Undertale EverDeep III: The Everstar Epitimus
by Alan Tryth
Summary: Realities are breaking down, strange creatures are slipping through the cracks, and surrounding it all is the lost shard of the Inverse Harmonius. With Sans and Fuku lost in the darkest of realities, Glen must find and confront the source of the darkness. Asriel and company track down the last pieces of the Everstar, but even it may not be enough to face the truth behind the ichor.
1. Chapter 1 - Grave Error

**Grave Error**

Error felt no small amount of satisfaction when he returned to the Void and found Glenda Adams Soliel, the so called 'Dreamer', well and truly gone. The only sign of her presence was the lingering hole in the fabric in the Void through which she'd escaped, and that was already nearly mended. Error chuckled, knowing full well what lay beyond that hole. That was no escape; it was just a whole different kind of prison, one that made the Void look like a paradise.

Still, he had to give her credit. Glenda had been resourceful, and her abilities were nothing to sneeze at. The thought of more 'Dreamers' wandering his multiverse did not sit well with Error. Fortunately, the realities she'd accidentally spawned were easy enough to spot. Now that she was, at least for the moment, out of commission, Error could concentrate on separating these aberrations for later destruction.

His eye-sockets closed as he stretched his will out through the multiverse, a massive and complex web through which a single pure thread could barely be found. It was the true universe, the real timeline, uncorrupted by impure events, beings who should not be there, and possibilities that should never exist. To Error, it was like a golden thread among a mass of old spider-webs that he worked tirelessly to protect.

The Dreamer universes were easy to spot. There was a shine to their threads, an innate light that left them glowing. There weren't very many of them, but they all grazed the pure timeline briefly before flying off away from the others. Error had seen other threads in that place before, wisps just barely visible in the distance. He tried to reach them, but try as he might, his reach was limited to those universes connected to the Underground.

As he stared at the threads, he realized that he could follow them. He could leave the Underground and go to the multiverse that Glenda originated from, perhaps even find her reality. It was tempting; he'd spent more years than he could count in one version of the Underground or another, following more or less the same order of events. To see something new, to experience something he'd never seen before, something that wasn't just a variation on the same old tired Underground theme …

He pulled his hand back. No, he had work to do. He had universes to purge, so that the pure timeline could be preserved. Through strength of will, he gathered the threads of the Dreamer universes and swept them away from the others, binding them with the blue threads to prevent them from mixing with the others. He would deal with them in his own due time, but first he needed to make sure there were no more accidents, no more shards.

He took the crystal bearing the imprint of the Inverse Harmonius, the Dreamer rune that let Glenda slip between universes, from his pocket. He still remembered back before the Void, before he was Error, when he'd used a crystal of his own, only for the imprint to vanish. Back then, he'd had no idea how to find it. Now, however, he was the master of the Underground multiverse. Holding aloft the crystal, he focused his thoughts on finding the others.

He heard the clatter of crystals hitting crystals as they appeared beside him in the void, quickly forming a large pile. They continued to appear, surprising Error, who thought that the crystals would only come from those universes connected to the Dreamer universes. Soon, thousands of crystals bearing the imprint were in the void, with more appearing every moment.

"Good." Error thought grimly. "Get 'em all."

In the universe where the Underground became UNDR-Ground, Sans slowly walked downstairs to the smell of sizzling bacon. Once the last of the monsters, he now found himself in a world where monsters and humans got on famously, where he had a job, good friends, and a beautiful and fiery fiancee.

She was in the kitchen, a pan resting on one hand and a tablet PC in the other.

He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her mid-section. Resting his head against the small of his back, he murmured, "G'morning, Fu."

"Good morning, Sleepy-bones." She said, setting down her tablet so she could rest her hand on his. "Sleep well?"

"Like the dead. You?"

"Eh, I was burning the midnight oil."

They shared a chuckle as she set the frying pan on the inactive stove top. She spun in Sans's grasp and wrapped her arms around the skeleton before giving him a kiss on the top of his skull.

"Still," she continued, "It's only for a few more days. Once I have my doctorate, I'll have plenty of time to rest."

"I've been thinkin' about that." Sans said, slipping an arm from her to pull a small pamphlet from his pocket. "Y'know, maybe a celebratory trip for Doctor Fuku."

"Hawaii?" Fuku said, eyes more alight than usual.

"Sure." He said. "Beautiful beaches, majestic volcanoes, lots of sunlight …"

"Uh-huh … or are you more interested in seeing this?"

Sans leaned his skull over her shoulder. His cheekbones went red as she pointed to a picture of a voluptuous woman in a micro-bikini.

"For the record," He said, "I was thinking more of the lines of it being on you."

She gave him a playful slap on the hand before kissing him on the slightly red cheekbone. "We'll see."

His day further brightened by the future promise of seeing more of his fiancee in several respects, Sans set the small table he and Fuku used for meals as she finished breakfast. As he poured a glass of orange juice for each of them, Sans said, "You see the postcard we got yesterday?"

"From dad and Toriel?" Fuku nodded. "Strange to see a bossun standing next to a human dressed as a mouse. Still, Asriel and Frisk are probably having the time of their lives."

"Well, they deserve it. Probably a bit redundant for Frisk, though."

"Oh?"

"Well, it's her second magic kingdom, after all."

Laughing, Fuku said, "Well, here's hoping she doesn't have to save that one."

She set their plates down on the table. Fuku inherited her father's natural cooking ability, though Sans did his best when it came time to do his share of the kitchen work. There were concessions made, of course; Fuku had to accept that Sans wouldn't be able to drink the same tall glass of bubbling cooking oil that she found refreshing, and Sans had to accept that cinnamon-butterscotch pie was not a full meal.

"Here you go, sweetie." Fuku said, kissing Sans's skull again as she sat a plate of bacon and eggs in front of him. As she took her seat and ate her breakfast, Sans's gaze fell to his plate. The way Fuku placed the bacon reminded Sans of the strange symbol on the back of Glen's hand. There had been no word of the Dreamer since they'd been summarily returned to the UNDR-Ground, and Sans wasn't sure how to feel about it.

"Sans?"

Sans glanced up to see Fuku looking at him curiously. "Is it okay?"

He gave her his biggest smile before taking a big bite out of a piece of bacon. "Gotta hold myself back to stop from makin' a pig of myself."

She smiled, but her smile faded after a few moments. "I'm sure she's fine, Sans."

"I know." Sans said. "I just … wish I'd had a chance to say goodbye."

Fuku's fork made a soft clink as it gently hit the side of her plate. Seeing her worried expression, Sans reached across the table and put his hand on hers.

"Don't worry; we tried everything we reasonably could, and I'm not about to do something stupid just for the chance. I love you, Fuku, and I'm not going to put our future at risk for a woman who is and will always be just a friend."

She squeezed his hand, a shy smile on her face. "I know. I love you too, Sans."

They shared a kiss before finishing their breakfast. Fuku's eyes widened, her eyes on her watch as she stood from the table.

"I gotta go, or I'm gonna be late." She gave Sans another kiss before hurrying to the front door.

"Have a good day, hot-stuff!" Sans called with a grin. Her smile flashed between the space between the door and the frame moments before it closed.

With a sigh, Sans stood up and carried the dishes to the sink. As he ran the water to wash the dishes (with hot water AND soap, the mental Fuku in Sans's mind said firmly), he considered his life. He had his job as a cameraman, his burgeoning career as a stand-up comic in a group with his other selves, and even worked a few shifts as a guard for old time's sake. In terms of money, he and Fuku were fine … more than fine, actually. In terms of friends, he was as well-liked now as he'd been in his own Underground. In terms of his relationship with Fuku, he loved her more than ever, and did not doubt that she felt the same. They'd started preparing for an October wedding; Halloween seemed appropriate, somehow. He was happy, and the future was bright as the sun.

His cellphone rang as he was drying the last dish. Pulling the battered device from his pocket, he was surprised to see that the caller was Alphys.

"Hey, Al." Sans said, setting the dish back in the cabinet. "What's up?"

"I was wondering if you could stop by Delta workshop today. I've got something to show you."

"I dunno, Al," said Sans, "Last time I stopped by, you singed my favorite jacket."

"A slight miscalibration of the thrusters. The car flew,didn't it?"

"Yeah, all the way to the crash site." Shaking his head, Sans asked, "What didja make this time?"

"Come and see." With that, Alphys hung up.

Sans looked at his phone for a moment before shrugging and slipping it into his pocket. With nothing else planned for the day, he found himself walking the now-familiar path through the streets of Ebott. Most of the city traffic centered around the UNDR-Ground portion of the city, which was a large part of why Sans and Fuku lived in the suburbs of Ebott. It was a much more laid-back part of town, which suited Sans just fine.

Alphys had workshops all over the city, but of late, she'd confined her efforts to the workshop that happened to be quite close to Sans's place. It still looked like a junkyard (anyplace Alphys lived tended to go that way after awhile), but with a definite sense of structure. Sans and Ebott stopped by her latest haunt quite often, at first to try and reach Glen, then simply because Alphys was their friend. Much like her other versions from their respective home dimensions, the UNDR-Ground's Alphys was socially awkward and more than a bit nervous around others, particularly her wife, Undyne.

As Sans passed the scrap metal gates, he became aware of a slight hum deep in his bones that was just a bit jarring. He didn't give it much thought; with all the machines Alphys built, it was no surprise something was hitting a frequency that made him uncomfortable. Still, as he approached the front door, he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something strangely familiar about the hum.

Sans didn't bother with the doorbell. He and Alphys were friends, Alphys was probably too far or too busy in the workshop to hear it, and frankly, the bell probably didn't work anyway. Doubtlessly it was on some 'to-do' list. In any case, he pushed the door open and entered Alphys's Delta workshop.

Before Alphys bought the place, the Delta workshop had been a simple house. A large house, yes, a two-story house with six bedrooms, a sizeable lounge and kitchen, and a reading room. Sans could still bits and pieces of it: a little patch of wallpaper here barely visible beneath schematics and notes tacked onto the wall, the oak banister engulfed by an automatic stair lift that was currently zooming up and down the staircase on its own, a bit of window that was somehow both uncovered by Alphys's notes and years of accumulated dirt from lack of cleaning.

Of course, Alphys was always one for improving things. As such, her home was now four stories tall. The two new floors were essentially another house, as she'd knocked out most of the walls and ceiling of the first floor to make room for her garage and her workshop.

Sans walked down the remaining hallway and turned to the double-doors that led to the workshop, the hum more intense than ever. Wondering what Alphys was working on (and how he could subtly ask her to shut it and the humming off), Sans reached a hand out of open the door, only for the door to swing open out of his reach.

"Sans!" Before Sans could respond, Alphys grabbed his hand and pulled him into the workshop. He had to jog to keep up with her … either that, or give up his arm. She moved through the clutter of the workshop with a purpose, knocking stacks of tools and old parts aside as she guided Sans to the back of the workshop, where a machine Sans didn't recognize stood. It looked like a giant version of one of those perpetual motion machines Fuku liked, the sort people kept on their office desks. Sans didn't know what it was, but he could tell it was the source of the humming; it emanated from the machine at an intensity that was extremely distracting.

Releasing, Sans, Alphys said, "I need you to monitor the energy flux level while I control the transference rate."

"Alphys, what are you …"

"The energy flux level. I need to know if the harmonic resonance starts destabilizing!"

Realizing he wasn't going to get any more answers until the experiment was over, Sans sighed and took up position beside the terminal Alphys indicated, a few feet to the right of the strange humming machine. Alphys moved to another console a few feet to the left of the machine and went to work. The rings around the strange device spun, slowly at first but more frantically by the second. The humming increased by the second as well, soon reaching the point where Sans found it hard to even think.

He started to complain, when his eye caught the energy flux wavelength display. Despite how long it had been since the last time he recognized those readings, one look was enough for him to know instantly what it was Alphys was trying to do. Before he could say a word, however, Alphys shouted, "Here we go!"

Rings spinning wildly, the center of the machine erupted into light with a loud whooshing noise. Sans was still blinded by the flash when he heard a familiar voice that was certainly not let out a laugh and say, "It worked! I knew I was awesome, but damn!"

Sans peered at the voice as the spots slowly faded from his vision, eventually revealing a thin young human woman with red hair and a grin of triumph on her face. She was standing next to a heavy bunny-man wearing a pair of glasses and a stern expression just beyond a swirling portal that hung in the air right where the rings of Alphys's machine had been.

"Claudia?' He asked, peering through the portal.

"Sans!" Claudia said, "Hey, lookin' good! Still with Fuku?"

She moved to step through the portal, only for the bunny-man to hold her back.

"Are you crazy?" he asked, "We have no idea if the portal's even stable."

"Oh, don't be such a grumpy-face, Artie." Without another word, Claudia hopped through the portal and onto the floor of Alphys's lab. She spun to face the now shocked-looking Artie and spread her arms. "Ta-da!"

"Portal threshold is stable." Alphys tore her eyes from the console, a victorious smile on her face. "So, what do you think Sans?"

Sans was nothing short of stunned. "But how … their universe … how did you even …"

"Relax, Sans." Claudia said, putting an arm around the skeleton's shoulders. "I found her. Must've looked through thousand of realities, but when I realized there's a mental component in finding a specific universe, I found your reality in less than day. Good thing you're so easy to spot, eh?"

Sans frowned, again reminded of everyone's strange ability to spot him even among multiple other Sans. "Not that I ain't glad to see you, Claudia, but why come here?"

"Well, we were looking for Glenda, but the imprint can't seem to find her. So we figured if anyone might be able to find her, it'd be you."

"The imprint?" Sans snapped his fingers. "Right! There must've been one in your reality too!"

"Actually," Claudia said, rubbing the back of her head, " It looks like when we jumped out of the Warehouse last time, it was with ours. We found yours in the back of a shelf. Surprised we didn't find it sooner; Leena said it was throwing off the vibes of the whole row."

"Is Glenda here?" Artie asked, feet planted firmly on his side of the portal.

Sans shook his head. "We tried to find her ourselves, but couldn't break through the barrier between realities without the imprint."

"Well, we need to find her." Artie adjusted his glasses before continuing, "Something's going on, something big, and I get the feeling she's part of it."

Sans opened his mouth to say he didn't know where was when he remembered one of their first conversations. "Glen told me she was from reality J-27. Dunno what that's about, but maybe it means somethin' to you?"

"J-27?" Artie repeated, his bushy black eyebrows scrunched into a thoughtful look. "Maybe … I'll be right back. Claudia!"

"I'm fine." She said, waving him off. "Get going already."

As Artie left, Sans slipped his phone out of his pocket and quickly tapped a message to Fuku. With luck, she wouldn't have reached the busy part of town yet.

"So," Sans said, pocketing his phone again. "What's this big thing going on?"

"The shard isn't the only thing in the Warehouse that reacts to other realities. Oh, yeah, it's the only thing we've found that can break fully through it, but other artifacts are linked to other realities in ways we're not sure … that is, they were. Sans, we aren't sure, but we think something's happening in other realities, something bad."

Sans couldn't help but think of Error, his alternate self hell-bent on destroying the realities he claimed were 'abominations'. They'd lucked out before thanks to Frisk and Aesop's rope, but if Error found a way to break the promise he'd made …

Sans opened his mouth to reply when a shrill beep from Al's console made them both turn to the lizard scientist.

"Hang on," Alphys said, scaled brow furrowing. "Something's wrong. We're getting some kind of-"

That was the moment when everything seemed to come undone. Power surged through the workshop, activating and in many cases overloading Alphys's other inventions. Lights throughout the facility flickered madly, and the annoying hum Sans associated with inter-reality travel intensified to the point where it was almost painful to experience.

"What the hell just happened?" Claudia shouted as alarms around the workshop sounded.

Al stared at her screen for a few moments. "The connection to your reality's destabilizing. Something must be wrong with the shard."

Muttering under her breath, Claudia hopped through the portal. She disappeared around the edge for a few moments before returning to view, a shocked look on her face. "The imprint's gone!"

"Gone?" Alphys asked, clearly stunned. "Whaddya mean it's gone?"

"It just gone!" Claudia's eyes widened as the portal twisted in mid-air. "The portal's collapsing!"

"Working on it!" Alphys said, sparks flying as she worked at the console.

"Sans!"

Sans turned to see Fuku standing in the entryway to the labs, the bright spots that were her eyes wide. "What in the name of-"

"Long story short, Claudia managed to do what we've been working at for months, but now it's falling apart."

"It's worse than that." Alphys said as Fuku hurried to Sans's side. "Without that shard, the portal's causing damage to the boundary between our realities. If I can't shut it down, it could cause and Epstein-Malruva lever continuity event."

"I'm guessing that's bad." Sans said, quickly turning his attention to the energy console. The flux was varying wildly. Sans did what he could to stabilize it

"Bad? It could tear our realities apart!"

"Got it." Sans said, finger-bones dancing across the keys as he manipulated the flux pattern.

Rushing over to Alphys, Fuku asked, "Can't we shut it down?"

"I'm trying," Alphys said, "Sans, tighten the flux stream!"

"You got it." Sans said. After a few moments, he could clearly see the portal slowly shrinking.

"Like pulling a drawstring on a bag." Sans said with a grin.

It wasn't until the first screws flew past his skull that Sans realized they had another problem.

"Al," he said, holding on to the side of his console as the pull strengthened, "I think we're about to have another problem."

"I know! We lost the other side!" She said, batting her collar as it popped up from the pull of the gateway. "The portal's collapsing! Just … just hold on to something!"

Fuku tried to move away from the portal, the image of the Warehouse now replaced with a confusing miasma of swirling colors. Unfortunately, being a fire-elemental, she weighed little enough as is, and was soon sliding against her will toward the closing portal.

"Fuku!" Sans made a grab for his fiancee and caught her hand. He pulled her as close as he could, his other hand holding the edge of the console with enough force to leave scratches on the plastic casing.

"Don't worry!" He said, "I gotcha!"

She held on, her grip slowly weakening. Sans tried to pull her closer, but his grip was already failing. He tried using his magic, but the blue swirls of energy were quickly swept up into the vortex of dust and parts in front of the rapidly-closing portal.

"Sans!" Fuku said, fear in her eyes as her fingers started to slip through his finger bones.

Sans struggled to hold on with all the strength his bones could muster, but even then he felt his grip slipping. They were too close to the portal, which only grew stronger as it shrank. He met her gaze for a moment, knowing what he had to do.

Alphys slammed a clawed hand on the exposed control panel. The portal closed with a slight popping sound, followed by a strange clattering noise.

Letting out a relieved sigh, Alphys slowly stood up. "Looks like we made it after all, eh?"

When there was no response, Alphys looked around her workshop, only to find herself alone. She slowly approached the gateway generator, her eyes on something lying on the ground just in front of it.

"Oh no." She whispered, horror in her eyes as she carefully lifted Sans's arm from the floor, the bone neatly cut mid-humerus.


	2. Chapter 2 - Of Cobblestones and Queens

**Of Cobblestones and Queens**

What is nothingness? When questioned, many would describe it as an empty expanse filled with light or darkness, devoid of object or sound, with nothing as far as the eye can see. Others would describe it to what one sees when one closes their eyes; not true darkness, but swirling shapes and colors that swim beneath eyelids, an ever-changing kaleidoscope of chaos.

These ideas, however, are incorrect; an expanse would be something; it would register to the eye as light or darkness, and in the presence of no sound, one would find that they themselves provide quite a bit of noise, making the place far from silent. If you can see yourself, see that you are moving, then you are not in true nothingness.

The closest one might find to true nothingness (at least in this humble chronicler's opinion) is a sensory deprivation tank. Once submerged and properly nulled to outside stimuli, only then can one come close to comprehending the true nature of nothingness. Even then, there is something in that void, something in that expanse: thought. That is, ultimately, all there is, yet it is still something.

True nothingness is the absence of all, and while beings unfortunate enough to find themselves in what Glen would later refer to as 'the Null' eventually find themselves without thought, there is a period of time where thought is all they have after being rejected by reality.

That begs the question of who or what would be so damned as to find themselves in such an oblivion. Truly such a fate is deserved only by the worst of history's villains (e.g. telemarketers). The truth is far less satisfying; the Null takes those who should not exist: People written out of existence due to time travel shenanigans, those whose reality was erased or destroyed, and as in the case of Glen, those who lose themselves between dimensions.

To Glen, it was like her mind was mired in quicksand; even the simplest thought seemed to take an eternity to complete, and required an enormous amount of effort.

There was something she needed to do, something important … someone she had to find. She needed to escape this place, but that would take energy she didn't have, will that was rapidly leaving her.

Eventually, the effort to even think was so monumental that Glen's will began to give in. What would going back accomplish anyway? More pain, more struggle … but for what? It would be so easy to stop trying, to simply let the nothingness take her away and forget everything.

"Come home, Cel'na."

The voice slipped through the void and wrapped around Glen, filling her with the warmth of love from her wife.

Glen opened her eyes, despite the fact there was nothing to see. Teria … Teria was waiting for her, across the expanse of time. If Glen gave in, she'd never see her wife again, never lay with Teria in bed, feeling the softness of her fur and the warmth of her feathered wings wrapping around them both. Sudden resolve struck through Glen, bolstering her thoughts.

The nothingness stirred; her thought, her action was unwelcome. It was an aberration that must be stopped before it spread through the nothingness. It gathered around her, massing its numbing power to dampen her and put her out like a candle flame.

Glen was ready for it, her mind screaming with effort as she focused her thoughts on her goal. She reached out with a hand she couldn't feel and closed her fingers. The feel of the cold metal of the door handle against her hand strengthened her resolve, further weakening the Null that was fighting to keep her. She could see the door now, and could read the familiar letters on the mounted sign: "Please use Other Door".

She turned the handle only to freeze when she felt something clutch at her legs. For one panicked instant, she thought it was the Null trying to reclaim her. After a few moments, however, she realized quickly that the thing grabbing her wasn't pulling; it was holding on. It clasped to Glen, buoyed by its own determination. Glen could feel a strong spirit … a fierce spirit, a warrior's spirit … so much like Glen's beloved Teria that Glen momentarily forgot that her wife was still over a thousand years in her future. She pulled the spirit close to her, holding it tightly so the Null could not reclaim it.

Nothingness now swirled about her, a feeling of almost anger permeating it at the loss of not one but two of its victims. Knowing she had moments, Glen grabbed the handle and flung it open. Light erupted from beyond the doorway, driving back the Null while Glen hurled herself and her companion through the opening and into whatever lay beyond.

The gentle touch of a small hand brought Glen back into the waking world.

"Teria." She murmured, rubbing the back of the hand only for it to dart out of her reach. Realizing it wasn't the furred hand of her wife, but the smooth skin of a human, Glen opened her eyes to see a little girl staring at her, with a fearful expression.

"Sorry, miss." The little girl said, a look of fear in her eyes, "But you can't stay here. If my aunt finds you sleepin' in the stable, she'll have the constable out here."

"Stable?" Glen glanced around, only to realize the girl was right; she was laying in a pile of straw in a stable … an old stable., the kind with a broken wagon wheel in one corner and where the only metal is in the hoops of the barrel that probably held some variant of moonshine. The horse from the stall next to the straw pile prodded the side of her head with its nose, more curious than anything. The smell was the most striking; a mixture of soot and horse manure that would normally have her reeling. After the null, however, it was like perfume to Glen's nose.

Quickly rising to her feet, Glen said, "I'm back. I'm back, baby! Hoo-yeah, take that, Error!"

Glen was still punching the air when the girl said, "Pardon me, miss, but …"

"Huh? Oh, right." Glen said, forcing herself to calm down. "Sorry; don't want to cause any trouble. Just happy to be alive!"

"Um … why are you in the nuddy, miss?"

"The nuddy? Who says that any-" Glen stopped and looked down to discover that while living beings can enter and exit the Null, their clothing doesn't make the trip with them.

"Ahh!" Glen said, her blush quickly spreading over her body as she quickly ducked into an empty stall. "Stupid null space."

"I beg your pardon, Miss?"

"Er, nothing." Glen glanced around the back alley for a few moments. Once satisfied it was just her and the girl, she snapped her fingers. Light engulfed her body only to fade a few moments later to reveal her normal clothes; loose blue-jean cargo shorts held up by a braided belt, a pair of steel-toe work boots, and a green and gray-striped t-shirt that was so big it hung off one shoulder. She stepped out of the stall and looked herself over for a few moments, nodding in satisfaction.

"Wow." The little girl said. "I wish I could do that."

"Oh, that's nothing. Check this out." Glen plucked a stream of light from the air and twisted it in her hands for a few moments before throwing it in the air. The glowing butterfly flittered around the little girl, much to her amusement.

Smiling, Glen headed for the stable door only for the girl to call out, "Half a moment; what of your friend, miss?"

"My friend?" Glen looked back in the straw to see that the little girl was right; there was another woman lying there without so much as a shred of clothing. She was pretty, with pale skin, short black hair, a slim, petite build, and asian features, though Glen wasn't familiar enough with pre-Devastation geography to know exactly where she might have called home.

"Well, well, well." Glen said, intrigued. "I guess you're the one who hitched a ride back with me."

The woman didn't respond. Frowning, Glen approached her, knelt down beside her, and felt the side of her neck for a pulse.

"Strong heartbeat." Glen commented. "Seems to be breathing okay."

With a snap of her fingers, Glen made an identical set of clothes appear on the young woman. The clothes rustled as they automatically shrank to fit the woman's smaller frame.

"Better appreciate it." Glen murmured. "That's my last set, and you'd be surprised how hard it is to find these shirts."

"Is she okay?" The little girl asked, a concerned look on her smudged face as the butterfly perched on her head like a bow.

"Well, she's alive." Glen said, sitting back and scratching her head. "My guess is she was in that place for a lot longer than me. If that's the case, if might take some time for her to recover."

"It was bad?"

"Well, let's just say I wouldn't want to vacation there. Oh well." Glen said, easily picking up the woman and hoisting her over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "We'll get out of your hair. Oh, and keep the sansprite as my thanks; it seems to like you anyway."

Glen took a few steps before an obvious question suddenly occurred to her. Turning back to the girl, Glen asked, "Um, odd question, but … where exactly are we?"

England in the late eighteen-hundreds (Earth history, AD to be specific) was often romanticized by people both before and after the Devastation. As a little girl, Glen sometimes imagined walking through the streets in a nice dress and a silly hat (she never really understood the idea of flashy head-wear, but was always one for trying new things). She used to imagine being friends with people like Alan Quatermain and Sherlock Holmes and going on all sorts of adventures that saw them running through the streets, occasionally with 'bobbies' in pursuit.

The reality wasn't all mansions and cobblestones, however; it was dirty. Dirty streets, dirty houses crammed together, dirty people who looked like they hadn't even heard of the concept of bathing, and a smell that Glen knew would stick with her for a long time.

Still, part of Glen was excited as the little girl led her from the alley that led to the stable; even with everything that'd happened, she'd made it right to where she needed to be. Even better, Headache's dimensional analyser indicated she'd made it back to J-27, her home universe. Obviously, she was a bit further back in time than when she first entered the Underground, but it still felt like a step in the right direction.

That excitement faded however when she realized just how difficult her task was. London was a sprawling mess of streets not so much filled as it was packed with people. How was she going to find the person she was looking for, especially with her new friend in tow?

A tug at her shoulder made her look down. The little girl was standing beside her, just outside the stable. The sansprite was perched on her shoulder like a dutiful pet, its glowing wings giving a little flap every now and then.

"Do you need a place to stay, Miss?"

Glen was inclined to turn down the girl's offer; after all, she was in a time where people were still prone to yelling 'witch' at sufficiently advanced tech, to say nothing of her Dreamer abilities. Still, she was already catching attention, largely due to her unusual clothing. Then there were the gender issues of the time; there were more than a few leers in the passing faces, followed by the inevitable cat-calls. Realizing she'd need to lay low for awhile, Glen said, "You've got somethin' in mind?"

The little girl led Glen to the front door of the house directly beside the stable. While it was made in the cramped style adopted by a society with too many people and too little space, it was by no means the smallest in the street. The sign above the door was faded, though the word orphanage was still faintly visible.

"You live here too?" Glen asked, glancing at her diminutive new friend.

The little girl nodded. "Ever since me mum died."

"Ouch." Glen said, ruffling the little girl's hair. "I'm sorry. I lost my parents too."

"Did they die of the sickness?" The little girl asked.

"Uh, no." Glen rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "I, uh, actually lost them. Something bad was about to happen, and I sent them somewhere safe … only, I don't know where it was they ended up. I keep hoping I'll run into them some day."

"Oh." The little girl said, obviously not sure what to make of that. Shaking her head, she opened the door without knocking and led them inside.

The inside of the house was a bit of a mess; unlike the streets, however, this was the sort of mess you'd expect in a house full of children. Toys lay in the hallways, clothes hung on dressers and like, and there was just a general air of mess all about the place. It was larger than Glen expected, though with the crowded nature of the streets, it came as no small surprise that she couldn't tell where one house ended and the next began.

"So, um … who runs this place?" Glen asked, her eyes on a painting of a rather stern-faced man with glasses. Someone had draw a pink mustache on it, and the label looked as though someone tried to scratch it off with limited success, leaving only the word 'Bumby'.

"The White Queen." The little girl said as though it were the most normal thing in the world.

"The White Queen?" Glen repeated with a frown. She wasn't a stranger to nicknames herself, but the name 'White Queen' seemed sinister. "Her Majesty won't be upset that you invited me here?"

"She likes helping people."

"Oh. Well, I guess we'll get along fine then."

"Besides, if you're dangerous, she has a really sharp knife."

Glen felt her smile twitch slightly. "Noted."

They passed a few other children in the hallway. Some were doing chores, some were clustered in groups playing, and still others were simply sitting in chairs, staring silently at walls in a most disconcerting manner. It didn't take Glen long to start questioning the nature of the White Queen by the company she kept. She shifted her friend from the Null onto her other shoulder, wondering into what mess she was walking.

The little girl led her to a large study with shelves full of books. There was a small crowd of children surrounding (and in some cases, sitting on the back of) the largest chair. A young woman was seated in the chair properly, clearly the subject of the children's attention. She was mostly obscured by an old blanket, and moth-eaten shawl. Though she didn't appear that much older than the children ("Twenty or younger, or I'm an elf", Glen thought to herself) when she spoke, Glen could hear in her voice an age beyond her years.

"Sirs Froderick and Squiggles did glance upon my personage, both clad only in a thin layer of tar covered with feathers, upon which did Squiggles exclaim, 'See? I told you so!'"

The crowd of children erupted into laughter, and even Glen couldn't help but chuckle. "Funny how those two get around, ain't it?"

The crowd of children turned at the sound of Glen's voice, as did the figure in the chair. Glen was momentarily taken aback by the greenest eyes she'd ever seen. They seemed to pierce straight through her, giving Glen the impression that she'd just had her mind scanned.

"Angela." The woman said with a sigh, closing the book. "What have I told you about bringing strangers into the house?"

"They need a place to stay, your Majesty."

The woman sighed again, this time with a faint smile. "And if I asked you to please stop calling me that?"

"It would be improper to do otherwise, your majesty." The little girl said with a giggle and a curtsy. Other children were giggling as well now.

"Is that lady dead?" one of the children asked.

Before Glen could respond, another asked, "Why are you wearing trousers?"

"She's got a tattoo! Did it hurt, miss?"

"All right, off with you little scamps." The woman said, making shooing motions with her hands. "Attend to your chores."

As the group of children filtered out of the room, the White Queen stood from her chair, her shawl falling to the floor. She was quite pretty, her slim form and pale face reminding Glen of that of a porcelain doll, framed with long dark hair that hung to her waist. Her eyes stood out the most, however; brilliant green and piercing, they seemed far wiser than her age.

"Please, have a seat … both of you." The woman said, gesturing to the mismatched chairs around the room.

Glen set the woman from the Null in one of the other chairs, taking care to position her so she wouldn't fall out. Seeing the White Queen's questioning glance, Glen chuckled and said, "Found her in a bit of a bad way. Couldn't just leave her behind."

"No, you couldn't." The White Queen said. "You've lost too much to turn away from someone in need of help. It gets you into trouble, which is why you've become something of an expert on getting out of trouble."

Glen stared at her for a few moments before letting out another chuckle. "I'd say lucky guess, but something tells me luck isn't part of this."

"It's a long story."

"Aren't they all?." Glen sighed and looked at the unconscious woman. "To be honest, I don't really know a thing about her. My guess is she's in a self-induced coma brought on by a prolonged period in a sensory-deprived environment."

"That's quite specific." The White Queen said.

"Well, I was there too. Not as long as her, but long enough to know it wasn't the sort of place you'd want to take a vacation. Oh, I'm Glen, by the way. Glenda Adams Soleil, but just Glen is fine, your majesty."

Chuckling, the woman said, "Don't you start on that too. Call me Alice."

Glen's eyes shot up to Alice's. "Alice? As in Alice Liddell?"

A worried look fell over the woman's face, only to quickly change to a stern glare. "You know of me? Come to call me mad?"

"Yeah, that'd be rich coming from me." Glen said, relief pouring over her. "Nah, but I was wanting to talk to you."

"Were you? And who gave you my name?"

"Barbara Jagger. Well, the dark force using her image … under a lake … in the United States … about a hundred or so years from now …"

"I can certainly see why you're reluctant to call me mad." Alice said. Though there was a teasing smile on her face,

Sighing, Glen said, "Look, this is gonna take a little while to explain."

"Indeed? Then I shall make us some tea. Make yourself comfortable." She paused halfway out the door. "I do beg your pardon, but … do you really know Squiggles and Sir Froderick?"

"Alice, in my experience, everyone knows Squiggles and Sir Froderick. Those two take trouble-making to a whole new level."

"They do indeed." Alice said with a pleasant smile.

Once she was gone, Glen let out a laugh and did a quick fist pump. "Out of nothingness, and right back in the game! Finally, I'll get answers!"

Shifting from the chair beside hers made Glen turn to her friend from the Null. The woman curled up slightly, the side of her face now resting against the armrest of the chair.

"Jack …" She whispered before falling still once again.

"Some answers." Glen corrected. She patted the woman's hand. "Don't worry, Miss; we'll find some for you too once you wake up."


	3. Chapter 3 - Direction

**Direction**

The door to the apartment swung open until the handle hit the wall with a thud. The lights came on with a flicker as the switch was flipped. Everything was as it was when they'd left, though there was now a fine layer of dust covering most of it.

With a sigh of relief, Golemite walked over to her stone armchair and fell into it with the sound of a bag of boulders crashing to the ground. Asriel and Shye followed suite, jumping onto the couch, only to immediately start coughing as a cloud of dust arose from the neglected furniture. Mina, Shye's little flynx pet, surveyed the apartment with her three eyes for a few moments before hopping up on the kitchen counter and curling up into a little furry metal ball.

"Geez," Asriel said, making a spinning motion with his hands. His magic spread through the air, gathering the dust into a miniature funnel before depositing it in a heap on the floor. "I told you we should've taken Miss Harriet up on her offer to clean the place while we were gone."

"You kiddin'?" Golemite said, shifting her massive frame slightly before pulling a rock from beneath her. Tossing it aside with a snort, she continued, "She wanted ten coins a day. Besides, it ain't that bad."

Shye opened her mouth to argue, only to start coughing again. Asriel hopped off the couch and ran to the sink, returning quickly with two glasses of water. Asriel carefully settled back onto the couch.

"Man, I am beat," Golemite said, letting her head fall back against the stone headrest of her chair. "I swear the Glass Ocean musta moved further away from Nowhere."

"Yeah, it just got up and moved, just to annoy you." Asriel said, grinning at his friend.

Shye lowered her glass and let out a satisfied sigh before grabbing Asriel's glass.

"Hey!" Asriel complained, but the black-furred cat-girl was already draining his glass. Sighing, he said, "Still, it's nice to be back."

"Heck yeah, it is," said Golemite. "I mean, it was fun and all, but I was getting' sick of Naddy shoutin' orders at me. Mind you, it was awful nice o'her to let us tag along for the ride and all."

"Paena was pretty cool." Asriel said, thinking back to their time at the strange city that now lay beyond the Glass Ocean. "I kinda wanted to keep going. The Wanderlands that teddy told us about sounded cool."

"Captain Jocer?" Golemite said, raising a sculpted eyebrow at her young friend. "Yeah, I guess it did. A whole town with a scarecrow as a mayor? Crazy."

Shye lowered her glass with another satisfied sigh. "Why didn't we go there? Naddy and Sylpha were more than willing to carry us along."

"No Everstar shards." Asriel said with a shrug. "Besides, did you really wanna hang around with Naddy and Sylpha with how lovey-dovey they were getting."

Golemite snorted. "Ugh. Don't remind me. If my teeth weren't diamonds, I'd have gotten cavities from listening to them."

"Boys." Shye caught Asriel's glance and let out a laugh. Asriel joined in a bit nervously; Golemite still seemed blissfully unaware that she was in fact a she. It was astounding how she'd failed to notice her changed gender since being rebuilt by Beget and Artie, the kindly robots of the Precious Meadows.

At the moment, the oblivious female golem was leaning forward to scratch at her backside. A look of relief on her face, she complained, "Damn sand. It gets in everything."

Asriel was considering how to respond to this when Mina sat up, her eyes on the door. She let out a meow moments before someone knocked on the door.

"If you don't have food, go away." Golemite rumbled.

The door opened to reveal their good friend Jenny, proprietor and cook of the Crossroads Diner. The lamia slid into the room, several bags in hand and a smile on her strained face.

"Ah! Jenny, you're an angel!" Golemite said, quickly rising from his chair and quickly relieving her of the heaviest of the bags, much to Jenny's relief. She handed the other bags to Asriel and Shye, and even set a little bowl on the counter for Mina before coiling her long tail into a seat for herself.

"Sol's Grace," Jenny said as they dug into the food she'd brought them. "You two are getting' to be legends around here. First the Precious Meadows, now the Paenan Expanse? Thanks to you, business has been so good, I've finally been able to hire a some help."

"Yeah, well we can't take all the credit." Asriel said, "Your sister helped."

"Oh, I know. She's been bragging about the trade agreements she's been making non-stop. Frankly, I'm a bit sick of hearing about shipping lanes and the cost of hiring cutters."

Golemite chuckled. Through a mouthful of quartz, she said, "Don't suppose she's giving us any kinda commission."

Jenny let out a snort. "What do you think?"

Golemite shrugged indifferently. "Ah, well … Skyway Repair Crew's payin' us plenty anyway. Gonna be real busy now that there's so much ground to cover. They're even settin' up a new branch HQ down in Paena."

Chuckling, Jenny said, "Between the tourists and the rest of the repair crew, I've heard more than I care to about Paena. So what's next on the agenda for my favorite regulars?"

Asriel traded looks with Shye and Golemite before saying, "Honestly? Right now, I think we're just gonna take some time to relax."

"Here, here." Golemite said, banging a fist on the arm of his chair.

"Really?' Jenny looked at Golemite and Asriel for a moment before narrowing her eyes and asking, "Okay, who are you, and what have you done with the real Azzie and Golemite?

Asriel could only shrug. "We've done a lot of work in a short amount of time. I mean, yeah, I want to check out the Floating Fields and the Chorus Mountains, but can't we take a few days to just relax and enjoy some peace and quiet?"

Jenny seemed surprised to hear this, but simply shrugged and said, "Well, I can't say I'm disappointed. It'll be nice to have you back in the diner … and you too, Miss Shye."

Rising up from her coils, Jenny stretched her arms and said, "Speaking of, I'd better get back, make sure my new cook's not getting overwhelmed."

She leaned over and kissed Asriel on the forehead, making him blush. "Stop by soon, okay? I've missed my Golemite and my sweet little Azzie."

"You can count on us," Golemite said, flipping the last sliver of quartz from her bag into her mouth like a piece of popcorn.

"Thanks for lunch!" Shye said, waving at the lamia.

With a final smile at the group, Jenny left the room, taking care to let the rest of her tail slide through the doorway before she closed the door behind her.

Once she was gone, Asriel realized Shye was staring at him. She was smirking, and with her feline features, she could really smirk.

"What?" He asked.

"Aww! You're all pink!"

"I-" Asriel felt his cheeks go even warmer. Scowling, he said, "Shut up."

"Of course, my sweet little Azzie!"

"Knock it off!" He moved to shove her, only for her to flip over him and pin him chest-first against the cushions of the couch. Landing on his back, she tickled his sides mercilessly. Golemite chuckled as Asriel squirmed and laughed under the onslaught. He eventually managed to roll out from under her and fall on the floor, where he lay gasping for breath for a few moments as Shye stretched out on the couch with a triumphant smile.

 _You lied to her._

Asriel froze at the sound of the voice … his voice. The image of a small yellow flower popped straight through his thoughts, a twisted smile on its face.

 _Just want to take it easy, huh? Think you've earned yourself a vacation?_

Asriel didn't respond. There was no need; Flowey was just a voice in his head. If he spoke, he'd just confuse Shye and Golemite.

 _That's right,_ the voice said with malicious glee, _it's just you and me here, buddy, and if you think you can fool me like you've fooled those idiots, well … you really are an idiot._

Asriel quickly rose to his feet and headed for the bathroom (while it's true that monsters do not need toilet facilities, seeing as their innate magic breaks food down completely, this does not negate the need to bathe or to brush one's hair or teeth). Shye sat up, smile fading. "Azzie?"

"I'm okay," he said, forcing a smile at her. "Just feelin' a little light headed. I'm gonna go ahead and take a bath."

He slipped through the door before Shye or Golemite could say another word. He turned the taps on the sink and splashed the cool water on his face. Water dripping from his wet fur, his gaze gradually rose to his reflection. He met eyes with his reflection for a few moments, water still running in the sink as he slowly breathed.

"What's wrong?" His reflection asked, vines creeping over his shoulders and around his neck. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Asriel tore his gaze from his reflection, and quickly turned on the taps of the bath as well, hoping to somehow drown out the horrid voice.

 _You can't drown me out, Asriel. I'm part of you. Do you really think staying here is going to stop what's going to happen?_

"Shut up," Asriel whispered, pressing his hands to his long ears.

 _You saw the mural. You know what you have to do._

"It's only one possible future." Asriel persisted. "It doesn't have to happen."

 _So you're just going to avoid it forever? Just hide away in Nowhere and hope that you'll live happily ever after?_

Anger flared within Asriel's chest. He stared Flowey in the eyes and said, "Why not? I've got a live here, a job, friends. I miss mom and dad, but they've moved on; maybe I should to."

He turned away, only to freeze at the sound of Flowey's laughter.

 _Look at your hands._

Asriel looked at his hands and gasped; thin vines covered his hands.

"It's in my mind." Asriel said, shaking his head. "This isn't real."

 _Oh, isn't it?_

More vines slid from his sleeves, shooting through the air and latching on to the sink. Asriel tried to pull away, but the vines slowly turned him around and dragged him forward until he was face to face with the mirror.

 _Let me give you a taste of what is to come._

Foul black ichor poured from the faucets and covered his hands, burning his fur and skin. Asriel struggled to pull his hands away, but it was too late; the ichor was spreading over his arms, across his body, over his face until his reflection only showed a horribly burned and mangled Asriel staring pitifully back through lidless eyes.

 _It's coming, Asriel. You can't hide from it, you can't run from it, and you can't escape it. Asriel … Asriel? Asriel!_

Asriel sat up with a start, only to find himself back in the living room, lying on the ground beside the couch. Shye, Mina, and Golemite were kneeling beside him, concern on their faces.

"Asriel?" Shye asked, "Are you okay?"

"What … what happened?" He asked, a dull ache permeating his head.

"I'm sorry. I was tickling you and you fell off the couch." Shye said, for once having the good grace to look ashamed. "You were out for about five minutes."

"I was knocked out?" Asriel put a hand to the side of his head.

Golemite clapped him on the shoulder. "Eh, Azzie's got a thick skull. He's fine … eh, buddy?"

Asriel forced a smile and a laugh, but he couldn't help but look down at his hands. Seeing only soft white fur relieved his fears a little, but Flowey's cruel laugh still echoed in his ears.

"Still," Golemite said, stifling a yawn, "Maybe it's time to get a little shuteye, eh?"

Shye nodded in agreement. "Sounds good, but don't forget you and Asriel promised me a tour of the city."

"Tomorrow morning," Golemite said as she walked to her room. "After you write a letter to your parents."

Shye clicked her tongue in annoyance, but didn't argue.

"I'll bring you some blankets." Asriel said as Shye curled up on the couch. By the time he returned from his room, she was already sound asleep, Mena purring softly by her side.

Pulling a blanket over her, he whispered, "Wish it was that easy for me."

Unfortunately, sleep wasn't the sanctuary Asriel hoped it would be. As he tossed and turned in his bed, the faces of all the people he'd met during his travels through the Deep flashed through his mind; Shye's family in the Brass Woods, Artie and Begat of the Precious Meadows, Jenny's many sisters, the former-pirate Captain Naddy, Sylpha the scribe … one by one, their images were covered with the foul ichor from his hallucination as Flowey's laughter filled his ears.

He awoke with a start, only to find he wasn't alone. The silhouette of a young girl sat on the bed just a few inches from his feet. He would've mistaken her for a shadow if it weren't for the glowing eyes and the Everstar shard on her chest.

"It's … it's you," he said, sitting up against the headboard of his bed.

"Hey, Asriel." She said, hugging her knees against her chest. "Can't sleep?"

When Asriel shook his head, she let out a sigh. "I remember the nightmares I had after I fell into the Underground."

"Me too." Asriel said. "You'd wake up screaming and kicking. It took both Mom and Dad to get you to calm down."

"Dad would hold me still, telling me it was all just a dream until Mom brought us both a slice of pie." The starchild closed her eyes and lay back, staring at the ceiling. "They made me feel safe … safer than I ever felt on the surface. I … I miss those days."

"Me too." Asriel confessed.

They sat in silence for a few moments before the the starchild opened her eyes again. "Asriel … something's coming. Something bad."

"I know." Asriel said. "I think I've seen it; this … this black stuff-"

"The black stuff's just part of it. It's the source that's really dangerous, and it's down here, in the Deep."

Asriel leaned forward, eyes wide. "It's here?"

"It came here the same way you did; from the Underground. It couldn't take that world, so now it's going to take this one." The starchild put a hand on Asriel's shoulder. "You can't let it do that!"

"I know." Asriel said, "But there was this mural … it showed me as Flowey."

"I don't know. I don't know what to tell you; all I know is that if you stay here and do nothing, this whole realm will be destroyed."

Asriel had no idea what to say to that.

"I'll bring you proof," she said, "Tomorrow. After that, if you still don't want to help, I'll understand."

"Chara-" Asriel said, reaching for her hand, only to find her gone.

* * *

"So let me get this straight," Undyne said, rubbing her forehead. "You opened a gate to another dimension that sucked up Fuku and most of Sans."

They were standing in front of the portal generator. The rings were completely still now, as were the connected consoles. Alphys was still working at one of them, but at Undyne's words, she sighed and rubbed her eyes.

"I know, I know … it was careless." Alphys said.

"Well, yeah. Wouldn't be your work if it weren't a little dangerous."

Alphys gave her wife a weak smile. "Don't … don't be nice to me. Sans is hurt … he could be dead."

"Phhb. He's a skeleton. They pop their bones off all the time." Undyne smirked and added, "Sounds a bit dirty, doesn't it? Anyway, you know Sans. Hell, you know three Sanses, and they're all good at getting out of trouble."

"I know, but-"

"Hey." Undyne said, rubbing Alphys's arm, "It was an accident, and that's what I'm putting in my report. If you're working on reestablishing this portal thing, and those Warehouse people are working on it from their end, I'm sure it's just a matter of time until-"

Undyne was cut off as the Warehouse doors were rammed open by a quadruped robot roughly the size of a large dog. It looked around , the large round monitor that currently displayed the face of a cartoon dog craning left and right. On his back was a child that everyone in the UNDR-Ground knew by heart.

"Frisk!" Undyne said, a grin sliding across her face. "Hey, I thought you were on tour! When'd ya get back?"

Frisk shrugged as Sans slowly made his way toward Alphys and Undyne. He stopped right in front of the portal device.

"We're on the right track!" Jake exclaimed. "Hold on!"  
Without another word, Jake leapt toward the device, vanishing with a loud crack.

Alphys and Undyne stared at the space Jake had previously occupied for a good minute in complete silence.

"So," Undyne said, shaking her head. "Lunch?"


	4. Chapter 4 - Dark Reflections

**Chapter 4**

 **Dark Reflections**

Fuku awoke to find herself caught in the branches of a large pine tree. Her mind raced to piece together her last waking thoughts as she stared at the snow below her. Sans called her to meet him at Alphys's workshop, and when she got there … something happened.

A familiar chuckle broke through her thoughts.

"Sans?" She asked, carefully untangling her clothes from the branches and twigs. "Sans, are you okay?"

"I could use a hand."

"Thank goodness! Hold on, I'll be there soon!"

She landed at the base of the tree, glad she'd worn her work shoes and not heels. Steadying herself agaisnt the tree, she looked around until she spotted Sans sitting in the snow a short distance away, his back to her. She hurried over to him, only to recoil in horror as he turned to face her.

"See?" He said, a dazed look on his skull as he lifted the four inches of bone that remained of his right arm. "I need a hand … and most of an arm."

"Oh, Sans!" She whispered, sinking to her knees beside him despite the bitter cold of the snow. "I'm so-"

"Now don't go starting that, Fuku." He said, rubbing her cheek with his remaining hand and smiling kindly at her. "It was an accident."

"But … your arm …"

"I know it looks bad, but no worries; we get back, and I can pop it right back on." He chuckled again and shook his head. "Help me up, sweet flame, and let's see if we can't figure out where we ended up this time."

They looked around, but all either could see was snow and trees.

"Maybe when it gets light out-" Sans said.

On a sudden whim, Fuku shot a ball of flame straight up. It shot high in the air before bursting into a firework explosion, revealing the stalactites high above them.

"We're underground … or Underground." Fuku glanced around again before saying, "And these trees … I think we're in the woods near Snowden."

"Cool." Sans said as Fuku helped him to his feet. "At least we're close to familiar territory. All we need now is to figure out what reality we're in, and then find a way back."

"Oh, is that all?" Fuku said, smiling despite their situation.

Fuku stayed near Sans as they walked through the snow-covered woods. Despite his assurances that he was fine, the loss of his arm worried her. It was true he was stronger than he used to be, and she was certain he'd actually grown a few inches in height somehow, but losing an arm wasn't the sort of thing that could be shrugged off … or at least, Fuku didn't think so.

Whatever he was feeling, it didn't take long for Sans to bring them to the path going through Snowden.

"Here we go." He said, gesturing with his remaining arm. "One way to the old ruins, the other leads straight to Snowdin. Whaddya think? Left or right? I'd decide, but … well, let's face it. It'd have to be left, wouldn't it?"

Fuku looked both ways, but as her eyes swept over the trees, she felt a shudder pass through her.

"Fuku?" Sans asked, sounding concerned now. "What's wrong, sweet flame?"

"This place feels … off." She said, hugging her arms to her chest.

"Dead, more like." Sans said. He gestured to a nearby tree; a small branch broke away with a crack and fell to the ground, making Sans jump.

"Just meant to get a leaf," He said as he walked over to the branch. He picked it up and stared at it for a few moments before handing it to her. "It's dead."

Fuku took the branch and looked at it. Sure enough, the wood was brittle and dry. The snow sloughed off the needles, revealing them to be brown and dry. Another look at the nearby trees showed they were all dead husks, partially covered by snow.

"Not likin' this one bit." Sans said. "Still have to make a choice though."

Fuku looked both ways again before saying, "Left, then."

They moved more slowly now, both on the alert for incoming trouble. The strange emptiness grew the further they went, leaving Fuku feeling a kind of cold that had nothing to do with ice and snow.

The sight of one of Sans's old posts did much to cheer them up.

"Aha!" Sans said, hurrying to the post. "If things here are like they were back home, we should be near the Ruins. If we're lucky, Tori could be there."

"Good." Fuku said, rubbing her arms. "It'd be nice to get some info from a friendly face. What are you doing over there?"

"Seeing if my counterpart left anything useful. Aha! Check it out!"

"Aha!" Sans rose from behind the counter of the little guard post, a bright red bottle in hand. "Just what the doctor ordered."

He tossed his head back and poured the red liquid into his mouth, only to stop immediately, double over, and make a retching noise.

"Sans!" Fuku hurried over to him and held his shoulders as the contents of the bottle spilled from his mouth.

Sans wiped his mouth before looking at the bottle with disgust. "What the hell is this crap?"

Fuku took the bottle and smelled the opening. There was no hint of tomato; just a strange coppery scent that made her feel a little queasy.

"Ugh. Not likin' this reality much." Sans said as Fuku handed him the bottle. He tossed it at a nearby tree with his remaining arm. The bottle burst, coating the dead wood with the crimson liquid.

Fuku checked behind the counter of the sentry station. Aside from about a dozen more bottles, one mostly empty bottle of what appeared to be mustard, and an empty container marked 'relish', there didn't appear to be anything … unless …

She reached behind the ketchup bottles, feeling around for something hidden behind the bottles. Her fingers closed on something firm. When she pulled the object out, however, she felt anything but relieved.

"Uh, Sans?" She asked, holding up the object. "Do you usually keep a spare?"

"Huh?" Sans's eye-sockets widened slightly at the sight of the skeletal arm in Fuku's hand. "Now that's creepy."

"Can we use it?" Fuku asked, "You know … for your arm?"

Sans took it from her and stared at it for a few moments before shaking his head. "Nah, there's no magic in this … oh."

Something about the way Sans said 'oh' made Fuku ask, "What's wrong?"

He shook his head and put the arm down. "C'mon; we should keep moving."

"Sans, what is it?" Fuku persisted.

Sans let out a sigh. "Look … if it was the arm of a skeleton, it'd turn to ash the moment the magic left it."

"I don't …" Fuku's eyes widened as she caught his meaning. "You mean that's from-"

"A human, yeah." Sans shook his head. "I'm getting' a bad feelin' about this place. C'mon; let's get to the ruins.

The uneasy feeling the air only grew stronger the longer they walked through the woods. Fuku kept her arm around Sans, her eyes flashing between the trees. She couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched. Perhaps it was the trees; perhaps it was her imagination, or because she knew they were either dead or dying, but she swore she could see gnarled faces twisted in expressions of pain within the wood. Even the air seemed strangely dead.

"Wait!" Sans said, stopping suddenly. He looked at Fuku and asked, "You hear that?"

Fuku listened. She started to reply that she couldn't hear anything, but then she caught it; the faint sound of sobbing coming from nearby.

"Hello?" Fuku said, approaching the source of the noise, only for Sans to pull her back.

"Careful, Fuku," He said, "The rest of this place hasn't exactly been welcoming so far."

The crying stopped, replaced instead with the occasional sniffle. Sans and Fuku listened for a few moments before Sans sighed and said, "All right … we'll check it together."

They moved toward the sound slowly, bodies tense as they drew nearer the tree that seemed to be the source of the sound. As they stepped around the trunk, something purple dashed away to hide further in the forest.

"Wait!" Fuku said before hurrying forward. "We're not going to hurt you!"

"Yeah, kid." Sans said, ducking under a low-hanging branch. "Just lookin' for directions."

The purple figure continued to run, obscured by the low branches and trees of the forest until it abruptly fell into the snow with a small cry of pain. Sans and Fuku hurried forward to see a small human girl wearing a tattered purple dress, her foot caught on a particularly gnarled root. She stared at them like a deer caught in a pair of headlights, her pale blue eyes wide and her mouth trembling.

"Easy there!" Fuku said, kneeling beside the girl. "Oh, you poor dear … Sans, look at her! She's starving."

"No kidding." Sans said, "I can see her bones better than mine."

The girl shrank away from them, her face filled with nothing short of complete terror.

"Easy!" Fuku said, carefully pulling her foot from the roots. "You've given it a nasty twist."

"I got this." Sans said, raising his hand. "Us skeletons have a way with bones."

"NO!" The little girl broke free of Fuku's grasp and tried to run. Unfortunately, a nasty-sounding crack shot through the air when she brought her injured foot down. Shrieking in pain, she fell to the ground once again, blood dotting the snow beneath her foot where bits of bone poked out.

The child tried to crawl away despite her injury, her small hands clawing at the snow in a desperate attempt to get away.

Sighing, Sans gestured at her. Blue magic lifted her from the ground and brought her back to Sans and Fuku.

"Look, kid." Sans said, "You ain't gonna make it far with that foot. I don't know what's got you so spooked, but I ain't here to hurt ya … and neither is Fuku. All right?"

The little girl slowly nodded, a fearful look still in her eye.

"All right then. I'm gonna set you down; you need to stay still so I can fix your bones, and then Fuku here will heal you up. You wanna run after that, then we won't chase ya … but if not, we'd really appreciate it if you'd tell us just what the heck's goin' on around here. Okay?"

The girl nodded again, still fearful but slightly less so. Nodding back, Sans gently lowered her to the ground. Fuku watched as the child's bones slowly slid back into place. The girl bore it well, though it was clear from her clenched fist and rapid breathing she was in a lot of pain. Fuku sealed the wound, willing her energy to mend the child's broken skin and muscle tissue.

"There." Sans said, rubbing his remaining hand against his empty sleeve. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

The girl tested her foot cautiously, shooting glances at Sans and Fuku all the while. Once it was clear she was healed, she hugged her thin arms to her chest.

"What you need," Sans said, digging in his pockets, "Is somethin' to eat. I'm sure I got a candy bar or somethin' here … ha!"

Pulling out a slightly misshapen candy bar, he barely had time to hold it out to her before she snatched it from his hand and tore the wrapper open. Fuku expected her to wolf it down, which made it that much more surprising when she carefully sniffed the chocolate and licked it once. Apparently satisfied that it was not poison, she proceeded to wolf down the candy.

"Easy there," Sans said, taking a seat on a nearby fallen tree. "Gonna give yourself a stomachache like that."

Once the candy bar was gone, the little girl whispered, "Thank you."

"Null problem, kid." Sans said, stifling a yawn. "Tell ya what, kid; I'm feelin' a nap come on. Been up for at least … three hours, and as you can see, I got a little careless when giving someone a hand. Let's take a little break before we do anything, yeah?"

Seeing her small nod, Fuku sat beside Sans, who promptly lay his head on her lap. She rubbed his skull, slowly drifting off herself until she felt something brush against her leg. The little girl was curled up into a ball on the patch of dirt now warm and dry from Fuku's presence. She rested against Fuku's legs, clearly savoring their warmth.

"Come here, little one." Fuku said, patting the log beside her.

The little girl did so after a moment's hesitation.

"Don't worry," Fuku said, gently pulling the child against her side. "My fire won't hurt you. I'm Fuku, and this bone-head is Sans."

"Hey." Sans said, raising his stub in a sort of impromptu wave.

"What's your name, sweetie?" Fuku asked, rubbing the little girl's arm.

"A-aliza." The girl whispered, resting her head against Fuku's side.

"Alize." Fuku repeated. "Well, don't worry, Aliza; you'll be safe with us."

The three sat there, Sans resting on Fuku's lap and little Aliza holding Fuku's side for warmth. It didn't take long for Sans's gentle snoring to intermingle with the soft breathing of Aliza.

"Aliza … what a pretty name," Fuku thought moments before she too drifted off to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5 - Wonderland

**Wonderland**

Glenda's surprised yell ended as she fell into the lake with all the grace of a sky-diving hippopotamus. She crawled her way to shore, spitting out water and grumbling all the while. Her grumbling stopped as Alice appeared from the treetops in a fluttering blue dress, surrounded by a cloud of butterflies. She floated gracefully to the ground, her black shoes gently touching down only a few feet from Glen.

"Show-off," Glenda muttered as she wrung out her shirt.

"I told you to simply let the transition happen." Alice said as she smoothed out the folds of her dress. "Fighting or forcing it only causes problems."

"I never have this problem entering the Dream Realm," Glen glanced around for a few moments before asking, "So, where are we?"

"Wonderland" Alice said. "This place is called the Vale of Tears. Come; there's much to see."

It felt like the Dream Realm, in a way; Glen could feel reality around her was slightly more malleable. It swirled slightly around her rune, almost like it wanted to be shaped. A bubble universe, Glen guessed, or a pocket dimension, similar to that within her door. The difference was that in Wonderland, Alice was the Creator. Trees bent and stretched to create bridges for them. Waterfalls flowed upward, carrying them on giant leaves. Stone lanterns with glowing crystals erupted from the ground, lighting dark areas as they passed.

Their path led to a train station at the edge of the woods. It was an old steam-locomotive manned, much to Glen's surprise, by what looked something like turtle with a cow's head.

"Alice! So good to see you again!" The creature said in a too-cheerful voice, rubbing its front flippers together. "I see you brought a friend today."

"Indeed I did. Miss Glen, this is the Mock Turtle."

"Charmed, I'm sure." Glen said, still not over the appearance of the creature.

"It's a pleasure to meet you! Now, how can I assist you today?"

"Two tickets for the Automaton Eerie." Alice said, presenting the Mock turtle with two balloons.

The Mock turtle took the balloons, a look of possibly delight on its face as it tied one balloon to each ear. "All right then; climb aboard, and we'll be on our way!"

Alice and Glen climbed aboard the train's carriage, a poshly decorated car with soft red cushions and fuzzy blankets folded neatly on each seat.

Alice sat primly in her chair while Glen plopped unceremoniously across from her.

"So," Glen said as the train jerked into motion, "Where are we heading?"

"To see an old friend." She said, the tips of her mouth curving ever so slightly upward. "He has suffered much from the darkness. I think he will be quite helpful to you, if you can get him to talk."

"If?" Glen asked, brow furrowed.

"It will be simpler to just show you."

The trees and streams of the Vale of Tears were soon gone, only to be replaced with clockwork towers and mechanisms. None of it made much sense, though Glen supposed it really didn't have to. There was another aspect to the area that quickly caught her eye; the teapots. They were everywhere, some endlessly pouring out dark brown liquid, others spewing clouds of steam.

Despite the amount of cogs, springs, and other artifacts from a steam-punk enthusiast's wet dreams, there wasn't much functional. Flowers and ivies were growing throughout the area, apparently doing quite well despite all the abandoned metalwork. It reminded Glen strongly of an abandoned junkyard, slowly being reclaimed by nature.

The train carried Alice and Glen through all the corroded clockwork, eventually coming to a halt beside a ticket station that stood before a great clockwork castle that was falling into ruin.

Glen scarcely had time to exit the rail car before a rather rugged-looking rabbit with crude cybernetic legs shoved past her. "Move it, missy!"

"March Hare!" Alice admonished. "Such poor manners!"

The March Hare glared at her, but only for a moment, as though suddenly realizing who had spoken. "Oh … Alice! I, er …"

"This is my friend, Glenda Adams Soleil. She's come a great way to speak with you."

"She has?' The March Hare repeated, eyes wide. "How fascinating! Are … are you here for tea?"

"Uh …" Glen said, glancing at Alice.

The March Hare seemed to suddenly catch himself. "No. No more tea. Not with him."

"March Hare …" Alice said, a sad look on her face.

"Not even if he served tarts!" The March Hare snapped before slamming the railcar door shut. In moments, he was gone, heading back the way the train had come.

"Okay," Glen said, raising an eyebrow at Alice. "What the heck was that?"

"It's a long story." Alice told her. "Come along; the Hatter will tell you everything."

They entered the clockwork castle, only to find the plant-life was even more prolific. Even the tile floor had spots where grass had broken through.

"This place was once as green as the Vale of Tears." Alice told her. "Seeing it recovering does my heart good, but there is still much to go. Even then, I fear something of what it became will always be present."

"Some scars never heal." Glen said absently, spinning a rusty cog.

"Indeed."

Alice led Glen to the very heart of the council. Glen expected some kind of throne room, and was somewhat thrown when all the room contained was a single long table laid out for one heck of a tea party. Light poured into the room through a massive hole in the ceiling, and the floor was mostly grass with a few remnant tiles, but other than that, the room seemed oddly well-cared for, even jolly in a way. Much of this was the table decorations: several lovely table-clothes were laid out, on which rested a antique store's worth of teapots and plates bearing sandwiches, biscuits, and tarts.

The hunched form of a gangley large-nosed man sat at the far end of the table, staring moodily into his teacup. It was hard to get a measure of his full height, but Glen could tell he had at least a few feet on her. His clothes were fancy, if tattered, and a tall hat rested on his mostly bald head, a card stuck in the band indicating its size.

"Late, late, late." Glen heard the man mumble as they drew near. "It's not fair, it's not civilized. I sent invitations and everything. Why are they so late?"

"Hatter," Alice said, "This is Glen Soleil."

"Soleil? Sunshine? There's no sunshine here." The Hatter fixed a bloodshot eye on Glen. "No room either! No room for strangers or troublemakers or would-be heroines."

"We shan't be long." Alice said, taking the puffy blue recliner to the Hatter's right.

"Don't worry," Glen added as she sat down in an old wooden rocking chair to the Hatter's left. "I'll clear out when your guests show up."

The hatter seemed to sink further into his gangly frame. Glen could make out what appeared to be a metal cog sticking half-way out of the man's back. "They … aren't coming. They never come. I've apologized, in person and by post, and even set out my best tea, but still they refuse."

"I don't mind if they hate me." The Hatter continued, "For what I did, I deserve no less. I just want us to have tea again, like the old days. It was so grand, I tell you; the jokes, the stories, the embarressing anecdotes about relatives thrice-removed."

"And I suppose the tea was good too," said Glen.

"It was magnificent!" The Hatter said excitedly. "Earl Gray, Oolong, Chamomile … it was a veritable cornucopia of refinement!"

Just like that, all the energy left the Hatter. He slowly hunched over again, a sad look on his leathery face. "And now, it's just me."

"I know how you feel." Glen said, thinking of Teria and the friends she was still waiting to one day rejoin.

The Hatter leaned forward, his nose nearly touching Glen's. "Really? You experimented on them, tortured them, denied them their tea? Did they then betray you to the very forces that would see your world destroyed?"

"Um, not quite." Glen said, feeling more than just a bit lost, "But my actions have separated us, and not a day goes by that I don't think of them, and wish I was back."

The Hatter stared at her for a long moment before sitting back in his chair. "Well then, perhaps you are invited after all, Miss Sunshine. Tell me, what brings you here in the company of my dear friend Alice?"

There was a note of sarcasm in the Hatter's voice when he said 'dear friend', but Glen decided it would be better not to comment. "I'm told your world was attacked by something that used a foul black goo to try and destroy you."

"The train, yes." The Hatter shot a scornful look at Alice. "Admitted by one of our own, no less. A ruffian who nearly killed us all."

"I've said my apologies, Hatter." Alice said, her face impassive as she lifted her teacup.

"That you have, that you have." The Hatter said begrudgingly. "But Wonderland is still damaged from its presence. Even now, the darkness lurks …"

The Hatter's gaze shifted from side to side, his cloudy blue eyes narrowing. Without warning, he grabbed a teacup and slammed it down just as something small and dark shot from between two teapots.

"Ah! Aha!" he said, a wide yellowed grin on his face. "Caught the little devil! Quick, fetch the sugar bowl!"

Glen looked hurriedly across the table before grabbing a small sugarpot with the image of an eye on the lid. "I got it!"

"Good! I'll take two lumps … no milk, please." The Hatter said, gesturing briefly to the cup in front of him before turning his attention to the one in his hand. "Now take a look at this, Miss Sunshine."

He pulled the glass lid from one of the cakes and turned it upside-down before letting the cup fall into it. The teacup made a clink as it hit the bottom, but Glen's eyes were on the small black bit of ichor.

"Looks simple enough, doesn't it? Just a little blob of darkness, certainly not enough to ham anyone. That's how it starts, little bits like lies on the tongue of an evangelist, flitting about between the shadows and the cracks. Like that, they are harmless … but give them enough time, and enough of them will join together. You can hear them; whispers in your ear, like a tiny devil on your shoulder pretending to be an angel. It's influence is subtle at first, pushing you to do things that are just a little wrong, just a itsy bitsy bit questionable."

"Are you saying they're … it's everywhere?" Glen asked, her eyes on the little blob that was currently sliding around the bowl.

"And in everyone."

"Wait a minute," Glen said, :I've been around a long time, and I've only encountered this stuff recently."

"Ah, but do you always listen to the devil on your shoulder? Even when you do, I'm sure you take it was a grain of sugar."

"Salt." Glen said automatically.

"In tea? Revolting." The Hatter shuddered before continuing, "And most people will only trust it so far. It needs something more to form a corporal form; it needs someone to open the door for it."

Memories of Alan Wake's cabin flashed through Glen's mind. The strange air of surreality, similar in a way to that that existed within her door. In the case of the Glen's door, it was a small bubble reality between reality and the Dream Realm, but in Alan Wake's case, perhaps it was reality linked with somewhere else. "Tell me more about the door."

The Hatter brought a hand down on the table hard enough to rattle all the silverware. "How am I to enjoy my tea with all this talking, talking, talking? I've given you plenty to think about for today, so unless you want to contribute something to this conversation, you can go!"

Glen opened her mouth to argue, but stopped at a subtle shake of Alice's head.

"A pleasure as always, Hatter." Alice said, rising to her feet and giving the Hatter a slight curtsy before walking away from the table.

Glen quickly stood up, bumping the table in the process and earning another black look from the Hatter. With a muttered apology, she hurried after Alice.

"We were just getting somewhere!" Glen whispered as they walked back through the ruined clockwork palace.

"The Hatter's disposition is volatile on a good day, Glenda, and he has had more than his share of bad on my behalf," said Alice, a look of sadness on her face. "We should give him some time before speaking again."

Glen was still inclined to argue, but the touch of Alice's hand stopped her. "Patience, Glen. You'll have the answers you seek, I promise."

"I've never been one for being patient." Glen admitted. "Run in, smash things, make a big fuss … that's me. Still, I'll try my best."

"You'll be fine." Alice assured her. "And I'm sure attending to your friend will help keep your mind off the wait."

They walked back to the Wonderland Express, but did not board it. Instead, Alice simply traced a circle in the ground, spinning with the grace of a ballerina. The circle beneath her shone with light that quickly consumed her form.

"Ah well." Glen muttered before stepping into the circle. "Back to reality."

Glen closed her eyes for only a moment, but found herself sitting in Alice's study when she opened them again. Night had fallen (though London was pretty dark with pollution to begin with), leaving only the fireplace to send light flickering across the room.

Alice sat in front of Glenda, though she still appeared to be asleep. Hardly surprising, Glen thought, seeing how much work it took to keep her household in order.

Deciding it would be best to let Alice rest, Glen quietly rose from her chair and left the study, taking care to close the door softly behind her. The rest of the children were (or should have been) asleep, so Glen took the opportunity to clean up the hallways of clothes and toys. The toys went in one of many boxes left all over the place, a clever idea on Alice's part that helped somewhat with the mess. The clothes went with Glen back to the room set aside for her and her mysterious friend.

The mysterious woman was still asleep when Glen slipped into the room and shut the door. Glen paid her little attention, instead moving to the corner of the room she'd converted into a small workshop. Her tools and supplies were limited, but that added a bit of a challenge to what she was building to repay Alice's kindness.

"Let's see now," Glen said, looking at the switchboard she'd installed on the wall near her workshop. It carried many labels, the most basic being 'light', but also containing labels such as 'low gravity', 'music for working', a round spinning control listing several light spectrums, and more. She eventually pushed a small blue button labeled 'sound-seal'. She shuddered slightly at the sensation of her ears popping as the anti-sound shield activated, effectively muting any nose she made within the room.

"All right," Glen said, approaching the device she'd assembled. "Let's see if we can get this sucker finished."

Banging and clanging ensued, with more than a few whispered swears (and one much louder one when she dropped a heavy wrench on her bare foot). Fortunately, the sound-seal did its job; no one outside the room heard so much as a light thump.

Eventually, Glen stood back from her device and wiped the sweat from her brow with a slightly greasy rag. Her creation sat there, a metal box with a door set into the top, with a series of knobs installed on the side. The average person of the era wouldn't have a clue what it was, though most people from Glen's time would rightly recognize it as a fixture available in many homes: a clothes-washer.

"All right," Glen said, opening the lid and tossing the children's clothes inside. She muttered under her breath as she manipulated the knobs, "moderate load, warm water, and normal amount of detergent …"

Glen considered the clothes of the orphans for a moment before amending, "Double amount of detergent … for the first run, anyway. And … go!"

She smacked the big red button on the knob console. The machine immediately came to life: loud, rumbling life.

"Aha!" Glen said, punching a fist in the air. "Another victory for Gineracorp!"

As if in response to her, the machine abruptly stopped. The lid opened and spat the clothes in all directions. Glen took cover as the machine spun about, rocking from corner to corner, before finally falling over on its side.

Slowly rising from her hiding position, Glen muttered, "Okay, maybe it could use a little more work."

The sound of something stirring pulled Glen's attention from her failed creation. Glen turned and watched as the mysterious woman she'd rescued from the Null slowly opened her almond-shaped eyes.

Confusion immediately fell on the woman's face. She glanced around the room, at Glen, then down at her clothes before finally looking at Glen again.

"I … I am alive." She said, a bewildered look on her face.

"You and me both, babe." Glen replied, not really sure what else to say.

"But I …" The woman looked at her hands again, brow furrowed. "I-I should not exist."

"Excuse me?" Glen asked, unsure how to respond.

Apprehension filled the woman's face. "This is a trick! You … you're working with Aku!"

"A-who?" asked Glen, now thoroughly bewildered.

She twisted her hand into a claw shape and thrust it at Glen. Glen flinched, but as the seconds passed, it became clear that whatever the woman was trying to do hadn't worked.

"My powers …" she murmured, "You … you've taken them!"

"Now hold on," Glen said, backing away from the woman, "I didn't take nothin' from no one, all right?"

The woman launched herself at Glen. Glen raised her hands, only for the woman to flip around her and kick her feet out from under her. A moment later, Glen found herself pinned to the floor, one of her saws pressing against her throat.

"Who are you?" The woman demanded, "And what have you done to me?"

"Glenda Adams Soleil." Glen said, "And the only thing I did was bring you here and give you some of my clothes."

She stared at Glen for a long moment before pulling the saw back … a little. Glen relaxed a proportionate amount.

"I think you were lost in the Null." Glen continued, "It's … I dunno, this place between realities where there's just … nothing. It drains your memories, drains your thoughts, drains you of everything that makes you unique, and-"

"Be silent!" The woman said. Glen could see recognition in her eyes, tinged with horror.

"I was there for a few minutes." Glen said, realization hitting her. "You were there longer, weren't you? How long? Years?"

"I … I don't know."

"Decades?"

"I don't know!"

"By the Creator, no wonder you grabbed me; you must've been desperate to get out." Glen gave the woman her most sympathetic smile. "But it's okay; we're out, and I sure ain't plannin' on goin' back anytime soon."

Uncertainty fell over the woman's face, but after a few moments, she lowered the saw. "This could still be a trap."

"Yeah, a trap." Glen said. "My master plan to bring you to Victorian London and corner the market on cobblestones. I can do the evil laugh if you want."

To Glen's surprise, that earned her a small smile. The woman stood back as Glen clambered to her feet.

"Hoo," Glen said, brushing off her clothes, "Well, that was exciting. What's your name, anyway?"

"Ashi," the woman said, rubbing her arm.

Glen nodded. "Like I said, Glenda Soleil Adams. Just call me Glen though."

"Glen." Ashi repeated. "So … where are we?"

"Not sure on the year," Glen said, "But we're in England. London, to be precise. To be honest, I'm not exactly a native either. You?"

"It would take time to explain."

Glen shrugged and sat down on the over-turned washer. "Do you wanna go first, or should I?"


	6. Chapter 6 - Road Hazard

**Road Hazard**

"It's good to finally be back home," Golemite said, arms behind her head as she walked through the streets of Nowhere with Asriel and Shye.

The three had decided to take a leisurely walk through Nowhere, mostly for Shye's benefit, as she hadn't had much time to explore the last time they'd stopped in town. Mena let out a meow from her perch on Shye's shoulder; the feline construct looked around with just as much curiosity as her owner. She occasionally hopped out of Shye's grasp to examine something interesting, usually some bit of trash left on the road, but she never let Shye get too far away before bounding back and clawing up to the cat-girl's shoulder once again.

"Walkin' the streets, checkin' the roads," Golemite continued, "Reminds me of the old days, before I met Asriel. Workin' the outer roads was a hoot. I still remember him tellin' me the road was out."

"Really?" Shye said sarcastically. She too had been surprised the first time the stones of the road flew in front of them to form a path.

Golemite just chuckled. "Such a long time ago. Weird to thinka all we've done seen since then, right Asriel?"

"Right," Asriel replied without much conviction.

"The Brass Woods, the Precious Meadows, The Glass Sea," Golemite continued even as Shye frowned at Asriel, "Then o'course Paena and the Wanderlands. Never thought I'd see anythin' like all dat after leavin' da Underground."

"Right," Asriel replied again, with even less interest than before.

A mischievous smile shot across Shye's face. "My favorite part was the Crow Matriarch betrothed her youngest daughter to Asriel. Can't wait for the wedding."

"Can't wait for …" some of Shye's words managed to pass the mental block of Asriel's thoughts, causing him to look up suddenly. "Betrothed what?"

Shye and Golemite chuckled at Asriel. The former prince sighed and said, "Sorry, guys. I had a weird dream last night, and I can't get it out of my head."

"Ah," Golemite said, nodding. "I get those sometimes when I eat too much quartz. Last time, I dreamt I was just a head hopping around while humans we3re tryin' to smash me with sledge hammers. Creepy stuff."

Shye snorted. "I used to Dream of being in the middle of the woods when suddenly all the horns would start playing so loud my ears hopped off my head and ran away."

Golemite and Asriel stared at her for a few moments before bursting into laughter.

"It was scary to me," Shye muttered, glowering at them.

"Now, now," Golemite said, "Don't go takin' it personal. Just cuz a thing might sound silly don't make it so. Take Azzie; in his bad dreams, he's a flower."

Asriel felt heat rise to his cheeks as Shye turned to look at him. "Really? What's so scary about that?"

"What I'm sayin'," Golemite said, "Is dat we all got our own idea of what's scary. Nuthin' wrong about havin' a good laugh at it."

Asriel mentally thanked Golemite, even she'd been the one to bring up Flowey in the first place. They continued walking through the streets bathed in the light of the Middle of Nowhere. Asriel wanted to go back there to ask Mayor Mayor and his sister for guidance, but decided to wait until later so he could go alone. The question he wanted to ask wasn't something he felt asking in front of them.

Asriel's musings were cut short as traffic along the road increased. In less than a minute, the road was completely packed with people, carts, and plenty of confusion.

"Hey!" Golemite shouted over the cloud of complaining Nowhere residents. "What's da holdup here? We're tryin' ta get through here!"

When no answer was forthcoming, Golemite grabbed Asriel and Shye, set them on her shoulders, and proceeded to do what she did best; clear a path. Startled yells and insults surrounded the golem as the continued, but she seemed to pay them little notice. After a few minutes (and about a thousand angry Nowhere citizens), Golemite reached the far end of the crowd and found the road blocked by a Skyway Repair Crew barricade.

"Uh, oh," Golemite muttered, "Looks like we're gonna be workin' today after all."

Asriel sighed, but deep inside, he'd been expecting something to happen. He'd even brought his tools.

Golemite set his friends down and approached the barricade, where two other Skyway crew members were standing guard.

"Heya, Frank," Golemite said, holding up a hand for a high-five that Frank, a rather skinny fellow covered with an almost shaggy growth of blue feathers and a beak like a stork, lazily gave him. "And Davis!" Golemite held up his hand again to the turtle-man standing beside Frank, only for it to be ignored. "What's goin' on?"

"I dunno, man Frank said. Frank was "The boss called us about an hour ago, and told us to cut off access to the western skyways until we heard back from him."

"He cut off all the western access?" Golemite said, his tone incredulous. "That's a quarter of the city!"

"I know, " said Frank, "but you know how it is, Golemite; he's the boss, we're the crew."

"Huh." Golemite scratched his head for a few moments. "Don't suppose you could let us through."

"Sorry, Golemite; he said no access," said Davis, his tone gruff.

Frank nodded in agreement, his long feathers swaying slightly from the movement. "S'right. This lot'll go nuts if we just let you by."

"But you're not just letting us through," Asriel said, drawing Frank and Davis's gaze instantly. "We're Skyway Crew too! Whatever problem he's facing, we can help!"

"He brought five veteran crew with him," Davis said, beady eyes narrowing at the goat-boy. "What makes you think he needs your help?"

"Because he hasn't got back to you in an hour," Asriel said. "I've only worked with the boss a few times, and then I was in training, but he always made a point to let everyone on location or a big repair know what was going on every fifteen minutes."

"He's right, y'know," Frank said. "Keeps us informed, so we know if we need to order dinner."

"Or cancel one," Davis muttered, rubbing an old silver ring on his right claw. "All right … but get back to us quick, or I'll be goin' myself to see what's the hold up … that's if this lot don't rush us by then."

"Much appreciated," Golemite said, picking up Skye and Asriel again and stepping past the barricade despite a wave of complaints from the waiting crowd. Once on the empty road again, Golemite broke into a run. Even though her new form was lighter than the original hulking mass that was Golemite classic, her stone feet still made the stones of the road shake with every step.

The roads spread into their usual confusing array of directions as they passed city limits with no sign of trouble. The light of the Middle of Nowhere slowly faded, revealing only the gem-studded ceiling of the great cavern. Asriel stared up at the glimmering gems, wondering just how close it was to true starlight. He'd actually forgotten that they were still underground, still in the Deep.

His thoughts eventually turned back to his mother, and to Frisk. Were they doing okay on the surface? Were the humans accepting the monsters, or was another war brewing? The former, he hoped. His mother lost enough. For the first time in a long while, he wished he could see her, hug her, eat her delicious homemade snail pie, and tell her all about his new life in the Deep.

"Golemite," Asriel asked suddenly, "You told me once that you came from the Underground."

"Yeah, what was that about?' Shye asked. "I thought technically we were all underground."

Golemite let out a chuckle. "Azzie's talkin' about the old Underground. Your parents never told ya anythin 'bout where we all came from?"

"Not really," Shye admitted, though the way she averted her gaze made it clear she probably hadn't been listening.

"Well, a long time ago, monsters lived on the surface with humans," Golemite said, "And-"

"Humans? What's a human?"

Golemite chuckled again. "Beings from the surface. Same basic shape as us; head, two arms, two legs. Kinda all looked the same, but hey, that's just my opinion. Anyway, one day, some of 'em figured out that they could absorb the souls of bossun like Asriel here, and thought that they could get that from all monsters. There was a war, and at the end, we got sealed in the Underground. Our King … Asriel's father, Asgore … he wanted to break the barrier and retake the surface, but a lot of us thought it'd be best to stay away from the murderous scumbag humans, and decided to stay here. They eventually found the entrance to the Deep, migrated here, and there's the story."

"Wow!" Shye said, eyes glittering with excitement. "Your dad's a king? That's so cool! What was he like?"

Asriel opened his mouth, but was surprised to be cut off by Golemite. "Asgore? He was a great king. Kind, caring, and generous as all heck. Used to dress up as Santa and give presents to everyone."

Golemite chuckled and shook her head. "He was good at giving us hope, even when we felt stuck. I was proud to serve under him."

"Wait," Asriel said, "you worked with dad?"

"You kiddin'? I was second-in-command of the Royal Guard, right under old man Gerson! Ha! That old turtle could give Davis a run for his money in the grump department on a bad day. Mind you, we didn't have much work after the war. Even Asgore knew another war would only end with a big pile of dust on our side." Golemite glanced at Asriel. "I never told you this before?"

"Not exactly," Asriel said. "But keep going. I wanna hear about it to."

"Well, at the end, most of us were glorified gardeners. King had us plantin' all over the Underground, said that the flowers would make all the trapped monsters feel better. Typical Asgore thinkin', bless his horns. Anyway, I remember I was in Hotland puttin' down some fire lilies when we got the word; a human had fallen into the Underground."

"Chara," Asriel said, head bowed.

"Huh? Oh, sorry. He's right, o'course, his sister was the first human to fall down. This was after … after she left." Golemite caught Asriel's eye, a sad but knowing look on her stone face. Shaking her head, she continued, "This was a few months after. Everyone was a bit bummed from Chara leavin' and all, but that just made the kind push us all the harder to try and cheer everyone up. Anyway, like I said, I was in Hotland when I heard that a human child was spotted over in Snowdin. I told Asgore of course; he and Queen Toriel were kind enough to take in Chara, and I thought maybe having another kid would cheer them up. He asked me to bring the kid to him, so that's what I did."

Golemite laughed and said, "She was a fun one, I'll tell you that. Even after fallin', she had this smile as bright as day. She weren't much older than you, Shye. I remember she had this cute little bow in her hair."

Golemite's expression fell. "I wish … I wish I'd listened to Mayor Mayor. He told me to leave the girl with him, said it'd be safer. If I'd known … I mean, I was at Asgore's side for years! Sometimes, I wondered if even the queen knew him half as well as I did."

"Why?" Shye asked, "What happened?"

Golemite was silent for a long moment. Asriel, knowing full well the fate of the little girl with the pretty bow, thought his friend was sparing Shye the details until he followed Golemite's gaze. Asriel's jaw dropped.

"Golemite? Asriel? Guys, what …" Shye fell silent as she too saw it.

The roads of the skyway formed their usual tangle in the sky, most ways leading back to the city. Those that lay ahead, leading to the lands of the Floating Fields, however, ended in a mass of black oily liquid that seethed and pulsed as they watched, visible even at a great distance. A few floating islands could be seen, ichor dripping as they slowly fell.

"She told me," Asriel said, clutching his head. "She warned me, and I didn't listen!"

"Snap out of it, buddy!" Golemite said, shaking her little friend. "Look!"

Asriel followed Golemite's stone finger and saw the Skyway Repair crew not ten feet from the ichor. It was hard to see from a distance, but from what Asriel could make out, they were unbinding the roads, separating them from those that led to the Floating Fields to prevent the spread of the ichor.

"Looks like we got work to do!" Golemite said. "You up to it?"

"Yeah," Asriel said, pulling out his scrammer. "Let's go."

Golemite swept Asriel and Shye up in his arms and leapt off the side of their current road. Wind buffeted their hair, fur and ears as they fell past several roads and landed hard on one of the corrupt ones.

Asriel hopped off Golemite's shoulder and ran right up to the edge of the corruption. He placed the scrammer, a tool that looked similar to a hand-operated can-opener, and used it to pry open the magical matrix of the road.

The ground shook as Golemite ran up behind him. "I'm gonna start on another road!" Without waiting for confirmation, she leapt over the edge.

Shye crouched down beside Asriel, asking, "Can I help?"

"Just make sure that stuff isn't getting closer," Asriel said. Holding the magical matrix of the road open, he fumbled at his tool belt with his off hand a few moments before pulling out what looked like a pair of pruners. One by one, he snipped the threads of the magical matrix as though they were barren rose stems. With the final snip, the road shook. The parts covered with ichor crumbled to bits, stone and ichor falling into the endless abyss below.

"Now what?' Shye asked, looking over the side, where Golemite had just severed another road. "How are we gonna get down there without Golemite?"

"Wrong direction." Asriel put a hand around Shye's waist and pulled his umbrella from his tool belt. Wind suddenly rushed around them, lifting them from the road and high into the air, where Asriel was just able to angle their fall onto another corrupted road.

Shye collapsed as Asriem released his hold on her. "Asriel," she said between breaths as the former prince revealed the road's magical matrix, "I like you, but if you do that again without warning me, I'm gonna give you a kickin'."

Asriel didn't have time to respond; he could see the ichor moving swiftly now, as though it knew what they were doing. It was only a few feet away when Asriel severed the final connection. He nodded in satisfaction as the road fell apart ahead of them.

"Azzie!" Golemite's shout prompted Asriel to peer over the side of the road. Golemite was still far below them, one hand cupped around her mouth and the other one pointing as she shouted, "The Boss!"

Asriel followed her finger and spotted their boss on the main road formerly leading to the Floating Fields. Their boss, an old but still respectable lion-faced man, was working feverishly at the main road's magical matrix while his assistants tried their best to slow the flow of ichor by lengthening the road. Unfortunately, it was clear from Asriel's vantage that the ichor was just a bit faster.

"On it!" Asriel said, grabbing the umbrella again. He flew into the air, Shye shouting angrily as he left her both literally and figuratively behind. Asriel wove around a few of the roads before reaching the central road. The ichor was only feet away from the Boss's assitants as Asriel hurriedly approached from behind.

"How's it goin?" Asriel said, earning a startled look from the lion.

"Asriel Dremurr?" he exclaimed. "What in the sam-hill- no, nevermind, it doesn't matter. Help the others while I finish untangling this mess!"

"Can't you just cut it?" Asriel asked, but the Boss was already shaking his head.

"Main road's woven into Nowhere's infrastructure. If I don't cut it properly, the chain reaction could take half the city with it."

"Right!" Asriel ran until he reached the Boss's assistants. The bird-people barely spared him a glance as he pulled what would look to most like a hand-operated mixer from his tool-belt and plunged it into the road. As he operated the crank, the road extended ahead of the group at a faster rate. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough.

The Boss's assistants didn't give up, however. Even as the ichor inched closer and closer, they held their ground. A sudden surge forced Asriel and one of the assistants back. The other assistant wasn't so lucky; the ichor caught the heel of her boot and dragged her into the writhing mass like a live thing. Asriel wanted to help, but it was clear that there was nothing to be done; if he stopped, the ichor would've consumed them all.

"Boss?" Asriel shouted as the ichor gathered for another surge. "Anytime would be great."

"Don't need any insubordination from you, Dremurr!"

"That's not what insubordination means!" despite his glib tone, Asriel feld cold sweat working its way through his fur. As the surge began, Asriel redirected part of the new road toward the remaining assistant, pushing her away and giving her just enough time to take flight. Now it was just Asriel, whirring his little mixer as fast as his tiny hands could go. It didn't take long for the ichor to start gathering again, and this time, Asriel had no plan for stopping it.

"Almost there!" The boss shouted, "Just give me a few more seconds!"

"I don't have …" Asriel's voice fell as the ichor surged toward him. He barely had time to raise his hands as it engulfed him …

… and without warning, pulled back, bubbling as though it had been boiled. Asriel opened his eyes only to see light shining from his hand. The ichor shrank back from the light. It even looked like it was trembling, as though somehow the black tar-like substance was afraid.

Not sure what was going on, Asriel held his shining hand out to drive the ichor further was just about to take a step forward when he felt a strong hand grab him by the collar and pull him back moments before the road beneath him fell to pieces.

Asriel spun about to find he'd been grabbed by the Boss and Golemite, both of whom were regarding him with a measure of respect.

"Kid, I don't know how you did it," the Boss said, "But you did."

Any pride Asriel felt was quickly dampened by the loss of the bird-person moments prior. As though guessing his concerns, the Boss said, "Hawkings wasn't the only one lost. Hell, I came down here with twelve, and if it weren't for you, Azzie, it'd be only me goin' back."

"But … the Floating Fields …" Asriel stared out over the expanse separating Nowhere from the seething mass of ichor.

The Boss shook his head. "Whatever was out there, I'll bet my fangs it's nothin' but that crap now."

Shaking his head, the Boss said, "Golemite, get back to headquarters, and tell them to put guards out on the paths to the Brass Woods, the Glass Ocean, and the Chorus Mountains. If there's more of this crap out there, I want to be able to cut off Access to nowhere in an instant. I'm gonna stay here and make sure none of that crap made it over here."

"You got it, boss." Golemite said, picking up Asriel. Once they were out of hearing range, Golemite said, "Dat was a pretty cool thing ya did."

"Yeah," Asriel said, glancing at his now-normal hand. "Just wish I knew what it was."

"Power o' the Everstar maybe?"

"Maybe," said Asriel, though he doubted it. He'd felt the power of the Everstar; this was different, if not overtly so. "Golemite, could you drop me off at the apartment real quick on the way to the Skyway Repair Crew HQ?"

"Yeah, sure," Golemite said, "But what about Shye!"

It took them a few leaps to find the road Asriel left her on. She was sitting down, arms crossed and a sulky expression on her face as they approached. Asriel apologized, but she refused to speak to him all the way to the apartment. She didn't even look at him as Golemite rushed off, stone feet sending small tremors through the ground with each step.

Once alone in the apartment, Asriel called out, "Um, Chara? Are you there?"

When there was no answer, he continued, "I saw the black stuff you told me about. It … it ate all of the Floating Fields, and tried to get to Nowhere."

There was still no response. Asriel begged, "Chara, please! Tell me what to do! This place is the only home I have left! I don't want it to be destroyed! I don't want to lose my friends!"

Silence was his only answer. Sighing in frustration, Asriel turned back to the door to leave. The moment after he hit the light switch, however, he felt a hand touch his back. He spun about to see Chara as she'd appeared the night before … as she'd appeared since he'd entered the Deep: an outline of Chara with glowing eyes and the single shard of the Everstar shining on her chest.

"I'm sorry, Azzie," she said, light outlining the eyelids of her closed eyes. "I shoulda just told you about the Floating Fields. Your Boss is right, though; more ichor will come, if you can't stop the source."

"Where's the source?" Asriel asked, eyes wide. "How can I stop it?"

"I don't know if you can," Chara said, bowing her head. "It's strong, Azzie, stronger than dad even … and it's hungry."

"There's gotta be a way!" Asriel said. "I was able to drive it back! Maybe I can do whatever I did again to the source!"

Chara stared at him for a long time before slowly nodding. "There's a school in the Chorus Mountains; a place of learning for anyone with the desire. If you want to find the source, you should start there. Look for the man who talks with his hands; he should be able to set you straight."

Asriel nodded. Somehow, he knew he'd end up going there anyway, but hearing it from his sister just confirmed it. He hesitated a moment before asking, "Why not come with us?"

Chara looked away. "It's … complicated. Don't worry; I'll be watching to make sure you don't go back to being a cry-baby."

"Shut up, Chara," Asriel said through a laugh.

"Still, if you need me," Chara continued with a smirk, "Look to the dark. I can't promise everything, but I'll do what I can."'

With that, she was gone, leaving Asriel alone in the apartment.


	7. Chapter 7 - Not Quite Right

**Chapter 8**

 **Not Quite Right**

Sans was walking alone through the snow-covered woods near Snowdin along his usual route. He walked slowly, in no real hurry. After all, he'd walked the path hundreds … no, thousands of times before. As he walked, however, Sans realized that there was something different this time. He felt … cold. He pulled his coat tighter around him, but it wasn't the cold of the snow he was feeling. This coldness ignored clothing and bone, and seemed to freeze his very soul.

He collapsed to the ground, hand over his chest as the permeating coldness grew overwhelming. He tried to use his magic to block out the horrible frigidness, but no matter how he tried, he could feel his soul slowly freezing over.

A distant shadow shifted. Sans was unable to do anything as it approached, eventually stepping from the shadows to reveal itself as Papyrus.

"Paps," Sans moaned, reaching for his brother with his remaining hand.

"Sans? Sans! Don't worry! I will rescue you!" Papyrus declared. He stepped toward Sans, but as he did so, Sans saw frost spreading across Papyrus's breastplate. The strange coldness was affecting him as well. Sans tried to warn him, but it was too late; ice crystals formed along Papyrus's long leg and arm bones, slowing his stride. Unperturbed, he continued to approach his brother, only for one of his legs to snap off with a deafening crack.

"B-brother!" Papyrus said, still reaching for Sans. Sans fought to rise to his feet, to catch Papyrus and carry him away from the damning cold, but his bones refused to respond. All he could do was watch as Papyrus fell over, hit the ground and shattered into thousands of tiny pieces.

"PAPS!" Sans shouted, sitting up abruptly. He dug into the snow for a few moments before realizing that the dream was over, and he was once again with Fuku and Eliza in the Snowdin Woods. Sweat forming on his skull despite the cold, Sans sat back down beside Fuku and let out a deep breath.

Feeling her shift behind him, Sans said, "Sorry, Fu. I just had a bad Dream, that's all. I used to get 'em all the time back when I was stuck in the loop. It's been a while, but-"

Sans stopped, realizing that the movement he'd felt from Fuku was her trembling. He put his hand on her shoulder, asking concernedly, "Fuku? Babe, are you okay?"

She rolled to face him, her flames strangely dim. Her arms crossed her chest as she continued to tremble, eyes firmly shut.

"Fuku! Hey!" he said, shaking her slightly, "It's okay, it's just a dream."

"No, it's not," She said, still trembling. "Sans … I don't … I don't feel okay."

True worry flooded through the skeleton now. "What's wrong?" He asked. "What can I do?"

"Left pocket," she managed to say, "Blue container."

Sans slipped his hand into her pocket and pulled out a small blue vial. Popping the top revealed a number of purple crystals similar in appearance to amethysts.

"Got it!" Sans said.

"Give me a quarter…"

Fuku opened her mouth for him to pour in the crystals. The effect was almost immediate; her flames brightened and grew, filling out her clothes again. She stopped trembling after a few moments, though occasionally she would shudder.

"Thank you," She whispered, leaning heavily against him. "There's barely any flux here."

"But you used to live in Snowdin."

"There was plenty of flux in my Snowdin," she said, "Here, the air's just … dead."

He held her in silence for a few moments, still concerned about her well-being.

"Is Eliza okay?" Fuku asked, her voice sounding stronger.

Sans glanced at the human child to find her huddled by the remains of the fire. From the dark bags under her eyes, it looked as though she hadn't got much sleep.

"Given a certain value of okay, yeah." Sans nodded at the girl. "You okay there, kid?"

Eliza nodded, a rather strained smile crossing her face. Sans started to ask her what was wrong when the girl's stomach let out a loud growl.

"Yeah, I'm hungry too, kid," Sans said, thinking of the breakfast he'd shared with Fuku the previous morning. "Tell ya what; before we stop by my place, we'll hit Grillby's and get some grub, eh? Gotta get some food in you, or you'll be skinnier than I am."

Eliza let out a small giggle at that. She smiled at Sans and nodded.

"All right."

"Dad …" Fuku whispered, looking at her vial of magic crystals, now less than three-fourths full. "I hope you're okay."

Sans was worried too, but also knew that this was definitely a time for confidence. "I'm sure he's fine, Fuku. Grillby's a smart guy, no matter what the universe."

The three of them left their clearing and continued on their way to Snowdin. It was a somber journey, despite Sans's multiple attempts to break the silence with some tree puns he'd been workin' on since the previous night: "It'll be oak-ay", "man, I'm really pine-ing for some ketchup", "Not to go out on a limb, but maple we should branch out our efforts". He got a few weak chuckles, but it was clear the girls' hearts weren't in it.

Reaching Snowdin was a relief, but for Sans it quickly turned to surprise as they saw a very familiar tall skeleton working on the town sign. He hammered away at one of the fallen letters as the group approached, Sans quickly taking the lead.

"Paps?" Sans asked, knowing that even though it couldn't be his Papyus, any Papyrus would probably be willing to give them a hand.

"Sans? I thought you were on patrol. Did you find something?" Papyrus turned to look at them.

Sans took a reflexive step back. It was Papyrus, all right, still wearing his 'battle body' armor and everything, but his teeth were a mangled blood-stained mess.

Sans's shock was soon mirrored by Papyrus, though in Papyrus's case, it was mixed with joy. "Brother! You've been healed! This is wonderful news, but where's your arm? Don't tell me you lost it again!"

Sans flinched as Papyrus felt at the side of Sans's skull, as though checking for cracks. Beaming despite his disturbing dentistry, Papyrus turned to Fuku. "And Young Miss Grillby! Out and about and everything! Don't tell my my brother's been dragging you along on his tomfoolery."

"It's okay," Fuku said, recomposing herself with admirable speed. "I like helping him."

"Hmm. Yes; maybe you'll be a good influence on him." Papyrus's eyes fell on Eliza. "Oh my! It's the human child! Don't tell me you've passed my puzzles already?"

Eliza nodded, surprisingly relaxed considering the ghastly visage of Papyrus was grinning at her.

"Well, I'll simply have to devise some more! Nyeh-heh-heh!" Papyrus let out a cackle before running off. He paused only briefly before shouting, "I'll meet you at the edge of Waterfall! Prepare yourself, human … to be dazzled and amazed by my greatest puzzle yet!"

Sans forced a smile (an act not all that difficult, to be honest) as he waved at the departing Papyrus. Once the alternate universe version of his brother was gone, however, he said, "Never thought Seeing Papyrus smile would make me nervous."

"Same here," Fuku said, shivering slightly. "Just what kind of reality is this?"

"One where we aren't sticking around. Look, Fuku, why don't you take Frisk to Grillby's for a quick bite while I go grab the crystal imprint from my secret lab? Shouldn't be too difficult to find."

"Okay." She gave him a peck on the cheek. "Be careful, okay?"

"You too." Sans said, rubbing the side of her arm before hurrying toward his house. In truth, he hated leaving them, but seeing Papyrus had awoken a deep sense of unease in him. He didn't know why, but he knew they needed to get out of that reality as quickly as possible.

The lab behind the house he and Papyrus used as their own in Snowden (and presumably still did in that reality) was identical to his own, eerily so. A dusty sheet covered the machine in the far corner of the room, a constant reminder of Sans's failure. Shaking his head, he grabbed the sheet and pulled it free with one hand, only to freeze.

The shard wasn't there.

He looked over the machine several times before moving to every cardboard box and drawer the room contained, but there was no sign of the shard bearing the imprint of the Inverse Harmonius. He considered searching the house, but dismissed it immediately; he'd never keep something important in there, especially in the disaster that was his room.

"Okay, Sans," Sans said, clutching his skull, "Don't panic; if I didn't keep it here, I probably left it in Gaster's old lab. We'll just have to go a little farther to pick it up, that's all."

It was a logical possibility, and highly likely seeing as Alphys left most of Gaster's stuff alone. On some level, she must've remembered being his assistant, which was more than most seemed to remember of the Sans's former mentor. Feeling somewhat reassured, Sans left the hidden lab and hurried to the familiar sight of Grillby's.

On the outside, it was just as he remembered the old place, though maybe a bit more worn. There was laughter coming from inside, along with what sounded like cheering, so it was with high spirits that Sans walked into his old haunt.

So many old faces were there from the old days that it was like a knife in Sans's gut. It was like stepping into the past, even if there was something slightly disconcerting in the smiles of his old mates. There weren't many survivors from Snowdin back in Sans's reality; they'd tried to organize an evacuation, but when Sans returned to the rendevous point after finding what was left of Papyrus, there was only ash remaining.

Many faces turned to him, their smiles becoming, for a moment, friendly as opposed to unsettling. A rousing cry of "Sans!" rang through the diner, prompting him to wave with his good hand.

"Heya, guys," Sans said, "What's been happening?"

"Grillby was just about to cook us dinner, wasn't ya, Grillby?" Asked the fish-man at the counter.

The crowd parted, revealing a grisly tableau; Behind the bar was the grill Grillby had always used, but instead of burgers or hotdogs, the grill was covered with bones … human bones. They were still stained red with blood, the jaws of their skulls stretched open in what must've been their final agonizing screams as they were cooked alive.

Grillby stood at one end, struggling with Fuku over Eliza. Realizing what Grillby meant to do, Sans shouted, "Hey! Grillby, what the heck are you-"

Grillby turned to face Sans, stopping the skeleton dead in his tracks. The looks of agony on the human remains was nothing compared to the absolute anguish wracking Grillby's face. He stared at Sans with eyes unseeing, mouth open in a scream that had likely died long ago.

Fortunately, Sans proved a timely distraction. Fuku managed to wrest the child from her alternate father's grasp. When Grillby turned, Fuku tackled him to the floor. She pulled out the blue vial only for Grillby to knock it from her hands …

… right into Sans's. Popping the top with some difficulty, Sans knelt by his old friend and poured a large measure of the crystals into his open mouth. The effect was immediate; flux energy flooded through the fire elemental, surrounding him with the same magical miasma that had reinvigorated Fuku earlier that day. His mouth and eyes slowly closed, though he continued shuddering for a good minute before finally opening his eyes.

"S-sans?" Grillby asked before his eyes moved to Fuku and went wide. "Fuku?"

"Yes, but not exactly your Fuku. It's … it's a long story, dad." Fuku said, looking to Sans for guidance.

Sans leaned over his old friend's head. "All right, Grillby, we're gonna let you up, but before we do, this kid's off-limits, understood?"

There was a chorus of dissent from the other monsters in the diner, but it was quickly silenced by a sharp glare and a flash of blue light from Sans's eye. Grillby nodded, so Sans and Fuku helped the bartender to his feet.

"I'm sorry," Grillby said as they helped him to a chair. "But you've been bringing us humans for months, Sans."

Sans stared at him, horrified. "You've been eating humans? Why? Just what the hell happened here?"

"You are the one who passed down Queen Undyne's edict."

"Queen Undyne?!" Fuku exclaimed, but Sans held up his hand.

"Look, I know we look like your Fuku and Sans, but we aren't from here," Sans explained. "Long story short, and yes, I know how crazy it sounds, we came here from an alternate universe … one were things went very different. We came here by accident, though believe me, we'd like to find a way back pronto."

Alarm entered Grillby's eyes. "Then my Fuku … please, do you have anymore of those crystals?"

"Yeah, there's still some left," Sans said, rattling the pill bottle.

"Give them to me!" The demand was so sudden that Sans found himself obeying immediately. Cradling the bottle in his hands as though it were precious gold, Grillby looked at the other bar patrons. "We're closing!"

Ugly looks and angry muttering were his reply. One of the patrons, a large bear of a fellow, stepped forward. "We gotta eat, Grillby. We ain't leaving as long as there's still a juicy morsel just waiting here."

Eliza grabbed Sans's good arm and hid behind him, trembling. "Easy, kid," Sans said, "We ain't lettin' that happen."

"Then you're gonna have a-" the bear stopped abruptly as the massive skeletal head of Sans's Gaster Blaster materialized in the air directly in front of him.

"Look," Sans said, "I'm sorry about what's happened here, and if I can find a way to help out, I will … but you ain't hurtin' this kid, and I ain't afraid of dustin' a few of you if it makes my point."

The crowd opted for departure, though the bear shot Sans a very dirty look before leaving the door. Sans dismissed the Blaster with a sigh.

"Haven't heard the end of that." Sans said, shaking his head.

"Don't worry; he won't tell the Queen. Everyone here's too afraid of her." Grillby said before heading for the door in the back of the diner. Sans moved to follow, but Fuku held him back.

"Listen," she whispered.

Sans listened. With the crowd gone, he could hear it; a very muffled sound that reminded him of a tea-kettle whistling. It wasn't until they heard a door open that they heard the sound for what it was; a long, sustained scream.

Fuku hugged Sans as the screaming slowly died down.

"Fuku," Sans asked, "Tell me ya got more of that stuff."

She pulled two small vials from her dress pockets, both half the size of the first. "Crystallic," she explained, "Human mages use it as a magical pick-me-up. For elementals like dad and me, it infuses us with magical energy, even if the air around us is dead."

"And what happens if it wears off?" Sans asked. Fuku rested her head on his skull, trembling slightly. "Our fire is sustained by magic. When the magic wears off, it eats at our souls … never enough to kill, but enough to …"

"To stay in horrible pain," Sans murmured. "How long you think that stuff'll last?"

"All three of us? Maybe a day or two, three if we're careful. If it was just me, I could probably stretch it a week if necessary, but … Sans, we can't leave them like this. You saw dad's face."

"Yeah, I did." Sans said just as Grillby rejoined them, empty pill bottle in hand.

"She's sleeping now," Grillby said, his fiery features tired. "Probably the first sleep she's had in years."

With a glance at Sans, Fuku pressed one of the bottles into Grillby's hand. "Here … it won't last forever, but-"

Grillby stared at the bottle for a long moment before closing his flaming fingers around it firmly. "Thank you. We both appreciate your generosity. Even a temporary reprieve from this suffering is a godsend."

"All right," Sans said as Grillby put away the bottle, "What the heck happened here, Grillby? Why is everyone eating humans, and why the heck am I helping capture them?"

Grillby let out a long sigh. "It's a long story."

And so it was. It began shortly after Frisk passed through the Underground. Their Frisk had been merciful, making friends with many and sparing all in her path. No one knew the truth of what happened when she confronted Asgore, though it wasn't hard to guess; their great king was nothing but dust, and Frisk was gone, along with the other six human souls.

Life went on for a time as always; Undyne stepped up as Queen and gave people hope while Alphys continued trying to find a way past the barrier. Things were crowded, and while for some gloom was unavoidable, everyone was making it through the tough time.

That's when the Core died. The massive machine that provided what was thought to be an inexhaustible amount of energy suddenly stopped working, and try as they might, no one could get it working again. Given that the Core provided magic both for food production and for the air for monsters like Grillby and Fuku, this made the situation most dire indeed.

Eventually, they determined that the machine was fine; it just required something to serve as a massive catalyst to restart. Many things were tried, but nothing provided enough power to start the reaction. As the days passed, depression settled in among the now-starving monsters. Some turned on their own, consuming the weak so that a few could survive. Others simply lay down and died, either from their own hands or simply from lack of desire to live. Every day, the Underground grew a little more empty, a little more hopeless.

Then, one day, Sans was called to see the queen. What happened that day was anyone's guess, but when Sans returned, his skull was cracked, and his eye glowed red. That day, he brought an edict from the queen; humans arriving in the Underground were not to be killed for their souls, but for food. Even stranger was the edict forbidding anyone to mention this to the Queen herself, which Sans claimed would simply rub in the fact that she'd failed them, and probably execute the offending monster on the spot.

"Since that day, you … I mean, our Sans, he and Papyrus would bring any humans who fell to me to … to cook." Grillby bowed his head. "When their souls broke … it was the only thing that brought me any reprieve. Now that you've stopped the pain, I am … I am ashamed of what I've done."

"Easy there, Grillby," Sans said, patting his friend on the shoulder. "Pain like that could make a monster do most anything. Besides, you aren't the one who brought them here."

The barest hint of a smile appeared on Grillby's face. "Thanks, Sans. I'd forgotten how kind you could be. Your other self handed over children without a hint of shame."

"But plenty of Love, I bet," Sans shook his head. His eyes turned to Eliza; the little girl had fallen asleep sitting at the counter, her head cushioned on thin arms. "Poor kid. Looks like there's not much to eat up on the surface either, if she's any indication."

"Most of the humans we caught were malnourished," Grillby said, nodding. "Perhaps things are bad everywhere. Perhaps this whole wretched planet's cursed."

"Hmm. We've certainly seen better." Sans shook his head. "Grillby, we need to get to Hotland."

"Hotland?" Grillby said, "But … so close to Home …"

Something in his tone made Sans pause. "What about Home?"

"Snowdin was isolated, and you see what happened to us," Grillby said, "But Home had thousands of monsters. Those few of us who've been there since the death of the Core tell stories of street gangs hunting for any monster with even the slightest sign of weakness. It won't just be your human friend in danger."

"Huh?" Sans looked down at the stub of his arm. "Oh, right. Don't worry about me, Grillby; I can put up a fight."

"That's what Sans said before the Queen called him," Grillby said grimly. He turned to the ghastly grill, recoiled at the display for a few moments, then reached down and tore an arm off one of the skeletons.

"It's not that easy," Sans said as Grillby washed the arm in the sink.

"I know." Satisfied with the more-or-less white bone, Grilly tied it to Sans's stump. Then, to Sans's surprise, he reached under the counter and pulled out one of Sans's coats.

"You've left a dozen of these here over the year," Grillby explained as Fuku helped Sans put on the coat.

"Thanks, Grillby," Sans said, shaking Grillby's hand. "I just wish we could do somethin' a bit more permanent to help ya."

Grillby paused. "Perhaps there is. The crystals you gave me, the crystallic; is it a simple matter to get more in your universe?"

Fuku nodded. "The universe we live in imports it from a world called Vinta, but it's known to form anywhere with a lot of magic in the air. I'm surprised there isn't more Underground, given how long the Core ran. Even with it dead now, the crystallic would remain."

"Perhaps there is," Grillby said, "Maybe we didn't know what we were looking for. If you find more, do you think it might be enough to restart the Core?"

Fuku looked to Sans, who shrugged. "Maybe, if we found a big enough chunk, and the Core's still in good condition. Even if we find some, though, I doubt Undyne's gonna let us just walk into the core."

"No," Grillby admitted, "Probably not. You're right; it's a fool's errand."

"Hey!" Sans grabbed Grillby's shoulder before the fire elemental could fully turn away. Grinning at him, Sans said, "I'll do it."

Hope appeared like a tiny flicker in Grillby's flaming eyes. "You … you will?"

"Can't ignore a request from my father—in-law, can I?" Sans said as Fuku stood beside him. "Besides, you said it's a fool's errand, and while I ain't a fool-"

"A joker's still pretty close, right?" Fuku said, smiling at her fiance.

Grillby looked at the two of them in surprise for a long moment before bowing. "Thank you … both of you. I wish you all the luck in the world."

"Thanks, Grillby," Sans said.

They left via the back, little Eliza huddled between them. The crowd of monsters was still out front, so Sans, Fuku, and Eliza did their best to move quietly. Eliza now sported one of Sans's jackets as well, albeit one bearing what Sans hoped was an old ketchup stain.

Soon, the town was behind them, and the caverns of Waterfall ahead. Papyrus stood at the edge of the bridge, stomping his foot impatiently as they approached.

"Human!" he exclaimed, annoyance vanishing in an instant. "You've come to face your final puzzle! Excellent!"

"Sorry, Paps," Sans said stepping in front of her, "we're just passing through. I promised the kid to give her a proper tour."

"Tour? Sans, are you completely out of your skull? If the queen finds out-"

"Oh, I think we can settle this without her royal failness."

Sans stared as his alternate stepped from the cave to Waterfall. The two could've been twins (fake arm withstanding) save for a massive crack that radiated from the top of the other Sans's skull, and the eerie red light shining from his left eye.

"Well, will you look at that?" The other Sans said, a sinister smile on his face (though with a red eye, Sans realized that pretty much every smile his alternate self could give would look sinister on some level). "My fortune cookie told me I'd find myself today if I looked hard enough … and here we are."


	8. Chapter 8 - Bits and Bobs

**Bits and Bobs**

The Looking Glass Railway sped through Wonderland, sometimes staying on its tracks and other times flying clear away as though repelled by them. The passengers in the train cars were accordingly tossed about in their cabins like croutons in a salad, all save Alice. She sat primly on her seat, hands folded in her lap and not so much as a hair of her long brown locks out of place as the train heaved and shook.

Glen took a more practical approach, and used her Dreamer power to give her seat on the bench a proper safety harness. This kept her from bucking about, though did little to prevent the other residents of the car from occasional bumping into her.

Fortunately, most of the car's occupants departed the next time the train stopped. A man with the head of a goat shot Glen an annoyed glare before following behind his newspaper-wearing friend. After letting out a bleat, he muttered, "Silly strangers … told her it was a private car …"

"Charming," Glen said as the ticket-checker closed the door. She looked to the only other residents of the car besides herself and Alice, a wolf-man wearing shabby clothes and the pink-haired vixen beside him. Both had been sound asleep since Alice and Glen arrived. Glen moved to wake them, but Alice stopped her.

"They'll wake up when they're ready to leave," Alice said. "Some use the train to travel, but not everyone gets off the first time they reach their destination."

Glen chuckled. "Been there, done that. So, where we off too today?"

"To see the Hatter again, of course, but not in his domain. I've arranged a change of scenery that I think might do him some good, and you as well." Alice paused and added, "In truth, I thought your new friend would be accompanying us today."

"Huh? Oh, Ashi. Right." Glen rubbed the back of her head. "She's , uh, researching something for me. Besides, she offered to take care of the kids while we're gone. That's got to be something of a relief."

Alice considered this for a moment and nodded. "I do worry about them while I'm away."

"Well, there you go!" Glen said, slapping the seat beside her. "Gives us plenty of time to talk with Hatter."

There was a brief pause as the train screeched back into motion. Once they were moving, Glen asked, "Say, what was he like? The Hatter, I mean, back before the trouble here started."

A small smile spread across Alice's face. "He was a dear friend. They all were, but the Hatter was special. I think it was our first tea party that helped me more than anything understand Wonderland. Of course, he never went anywhere without the March Hare or the Dormouse. Thick as thieves, they were; they even took the stand together when the Queen put the knave of hearts on trial for stealing her tarts."

Alice's smile fell as she let out a sigh. "The death of my parents and my sister didn't just devastate me; they devastated Wonderland. It wasn't my fault, I know that now, but nevertheless, when I see them as they are now, I can't help but feel responsible. I wish there was a way to go back to those old tea parties."

Silence followed until the door to the cabin slammed open.

"Dollhouse!" the ticket-taker shouted even though Glen and Alice were only feet away from him. "All departing for Dollhouse, get ready to depart …"

The train came to a screeching halt. A chorus of thumps sounded from the compartment ahead of theirs, the riders' muffled complaints faintly audible through the wall.

"-now," the ticket-taker finished, a satisfied grin on his face.

Alice rose gracefully from her seat and beckoned for Glen to follow. Glen did so after a brief but decisive fight with her harness.

Dollhouse was a surprisingly good description for their current location. It was as though they'd somehow shrunk over the journey and were now walking through some little girl's (or little boy's, Glen supposed) Christmas dream. The only difference was that most doll-houses don't have animals running construction equipment around them, fixing things.

"Ah," Glen said, Headache appearing on her arms instinctively. "I feel right at home."

"The Dollhouse took the brunt of the damage during the incident with the Dollmaker." Alice said, guiding Glen through what looked like a city of homes. "The dolls held out longer than most, but in the end, they were overwhelmed."

Glen didn't respond. As a Dreamer, she was intimately familiar with dolls in the dream realm. People weren't meant to experience the Dream Realm unfiltered, but sometimes someone made it through anyway. Those people gradually lost their sense of self until all that was left was their core personality. Aggressive people became teddies, curious folk became scarecrows, and the kind-hearted became dolls. From Alice's story of the Dollmaker, these dolls were very much the same thing: children emptied of their memories by a immoral bastard who Alice introduced to the London transit system in a very direct and final way.

Even under construction, however, Glen could see that it was once a great city, and was on the right track to being one once again. She had half a mind to stay around after their business with the Hatter was done to help out. It'd been a while since she had the chance to roll up her sleeves and do what she did best … er, other than interfere in other people's affairs.

Alice led Glen through the winding streets to a magnificent structure that wasn't so much a doll house as it was a doll palace, likely home to a long lineage of doll royalty. The palace must've been a priority, seeing as it was almost completely repaired at that point.

Two nutcrackers easily two feet taller than Glen saluted as Alice drew near.

"Lady Alice!" Said the one on the right, sporting a blue jacket. "You honor us with your presence. How can we assist you on this fine day?"

"I'm here to speak with the Hatter." Alice said, giving the guards a small but polite curtsy.

"Ah yes; you'll find him in the audience chamber."

"Working on her majesty, he is." Said the other guard, this one with a red jacket.

"Working on?" Glen asked, "As in-"

"Thank you," Alice interrupted smoothly. "We'll be going in now."

"Of course. Have a fine day, madam." With that, the nutcracker guards moved to either side of the main doors, inserted their hands in large grooves within the wall. The door, despite looking as though it was designed to open in the middle, slid aside to reveal a large and spacious courtyard.

There was more damage evident here, though the beginnings of a wonderful,if a bit unusual, garden helped cover the scars of the Dollmaker. Dolls dressed as gardeners carefully sewed bits of cloth together to form blooms and stems before sewing the new flowers onto the brown quilted ground of the flowerbeds. Several nodded at Alice as she passed, one even pausing to tip her hat.

The tin soldiers at the palace entrance pushed open the doors for Alice and Glen, revealing that there was much more work going on in the palace than Glen suspected from the outside view. There were scaffolds everywhere, loaded to the brim with hundreds of walking animals, dolls, and chess pieces. The most impressive sight of all was the great stained glass window on the northern wall. They were still placing the carefully cut pieces of colored glass into the iron framework, but from what Glen could tell, it depicted the history of Wonderland. Unsurprisingly, Alice was featured more than once: her first visit as a child, her overthrow of the Queen of Hearts, and finally her defeat of the Dollmaker. There was more, but it was largely devoid of colored glass, making interpreting it difficult.

The sound of the Hatter's voice broke through Glen's thoughts. Glen looked ahead to see the tall form of the hatter kneeling beside a pile of parts.

Glen opened her mouth to greet the Hatter, only for him to say, "Yes, I see you, Miss Sunshine. Don't interrupt; I'll be with you when I'm finished here."

Glen watched in respectful silence as the Hatter continued. The Hatter's giant hands worked with astonishing precision as he picked out, put in, and adjusted mechanisms within the Glass Princess. Many were rusted, though Glen spotted a few splotches of a dark substance that she was fairly sure was ichor.

"There," the Hatter said with a kindness Glen had yet to see, "That should do it. Up, milady, it's time you were on your feet."

Glen took a step back in shock as what she'd mistaken for a pile of old parts slowly rose to its feet. Metal panels slid into place amid the squeals of metal joints in bad need of oil. The Hatter quickly attended to these as slowly, but surely, the pile became the slim form of an animatronic woman with a porcelain face and a gown of stained glass.

"Ah," The Hatter said, beaming, "There! That's much better, isn't it?"

The animatronic woman took a few hesitant steps, the Hatter maintaining a supportive grip on her shoulder. A few more joins were oiled before her movements became relatively smooth.

"I …" the woman said in a voice like an old recording. "I can walk again! Hatter, you are astounding!"

"Why, thank you, Your Highness." Turning to Glen, the Hatter said, "Miss Sunshine, allow me to introduce you to the Glass Princess."

The Glass Princess managed a rather stiff curtsy, which Alice returned shortly before Glen opted to bow, seeing as she wasn't wearing a dress.

The Glass Princess's eyes fell on Alice. Her porcelain smile widened. They hugged briefly, Alice wincing at the animatronic woman's embrace.

"The Glass Princess watches over the dolls of Dollhouse." The Hatter explained. "As you might expect, the Dollmaker didn't care much for that. Took her out first, reduced her to bits and bobs. Lucky for her, the dolls are a clever lot. Explains how they lasted so long. They found her bits, enabling me to have the honor of reassembly."

"And an excellent job you've done, Sir Hatter," said the Glass Princess. Her movements were still a bit jerky as she removed the Hatter's hat and kissed his bald head. The Hatter's resulting blush spread redness to the tips of his ears.

"It was an honor, and a privilege, M'lady." He said, large hands fumbling with his hat.

Seeing the Hatter acting like a shy schoolboy brought a smirk to Glen's face. The Hatter noticed and scowled at her.

"And I suppose you're here for another lesson, hmm? More information on the darkness?"

"If you're feeling up to it," Glen said with a grin. "Not lookin' to bust up your da-"

The Hatter's hand clapped over her mouth. To the Glass Queen, he said, "My apologies, your Majesty; but Glen and I have a matter to attend to. I'm sure Alice wouldn't mind helping you settle back in."

Without another word, the Hatter took off running. His long legs carried him with frightening speed out of the palace and through the Dollhouse streets. With a massive leap, they were airborne and swinging from girders and construction equipment. He carried her to the very edge of the construction zone, where buildings were still splattered with ichor.

Coming to a halt atop a rickety two-story house, the Hatter dropped Glen to the roof.

"What are you trying to do, Miss Sunshine?" He demanded, poking her with a long finger. "Are you trying to make a mockery of me? Tease me? Humiliate me?"

Glen stared at him uncomprehendingly for a few moments before she realized what he was talking about. "Wait … you and the Glass Princess-"

"There is no me and the Glass Princess! I am just a simple maker of hats, a master of clockwork, yes, but mainly hats! A woman of that level of refinement would never have tea with a buttercrumb like me."

"You do like her!" Glen said, eyes and smile wide. "Aww, that's just adorable! Kids'll be a nightmare, but hey; I'm not one to judge."

The Hatter scowled at her. "Are you quite finished?"

"Oh, I've got more …" Glen hesitated at the nasty look the Hatter gave her. "Er, but I suppose this isn't the time."

"Good. Now, I promised you three lessons on the darkness you're so curious about. There aren't many places in Wonderland where large amounts of ichor remain, but you'll find this is one such place. Ichor itself isn't terribly dangerous if you know how to handle it, but in large amounts over time, it presents a whole new problem."

"Like what?" Glen asked, hands on her hips.

The Hatter didn't answer. He was staring into the muck covering the buildings, eyes searching for something among the mess. After a few moments, he pointed and said, "There!"

Glen peered between the ruined walls for a few moments before spotting what the Hatter wanted her to see. At first, it looked like nothing more than a particularly large mound of ichor. As she watched, however, the mound sprouted arms and lumbered forward with arms reaching forward. After a few moments, it lost its form and fell back into an amorphous puddle.

"Ichor infested areas are like bee-hives," The Hatter said, "But instead of delicious respectable honey, they hold only creatures such as that. The ichor here is weak, and can barely form these pitiful creatures, but at its strength, it can produce other, much more dangerous creatures. Foul winged beasts, hideous giant spiders, abhorrent golems of putrid ichor."

The Hatter looked at Glen. "But where do these beasts come from? Are they the the source of the ichor … or simply a symptom of it?"

When Glen didn't answer, the Hatter became impatient. "Come on, girl! We spoke before of a door through which the ichor can enter our worlds, Did you truly think it was an actual door?"

"Some poor soul opens themselves to the darkness and lets the ichor in," The Hatter continued, turning his gaze back to the ichor. "They become the doorway, allowing the ichor to spread and infest the fabric of reality is weakened, allowing what lays beyond to force itself through."

"What lays beyond?" Glen asked, both horrified and fascinated.

"Who knows? Beasts, certainly, like those I've described. Spirits lost to the ichor long ago, or perhaps something much worse. Can you think of something that lives in darkness, biding its time in hopes of causing much destruction?"

The name Terael sprang to mind. That didn't help much, however, as Glen knew practically nothing about the entity that named itself as such. Well, other than the fact it orchestrated a multi-universe cycle of destruction that was only stopped when she and the other twelve restored the Solarius. Oh, and there was the time he tried to cover the Dream Realm in darkness, only to be foiled by the Scarecrow and first Solarion Wander. Then there was the rumor that he was the child of the Legendary Dust Knight who fought with his sister over the power of Creation, resulting in the two of them being flung out of existence.

Terael was an enabler; he didn't show himself; instead, he manipulated others, Dreamers included. Only Wander and his bride, Samara, stood against Terael himself. Since that time, Terael was a shadow, a wandering shade.

"The devil on one's shoulder," Glen murmured.

The Hatter nodded, a look of satisfaction on his face. "They're clever, of course; they won't emerge until they're ready for a true assault. The attack on Wonderland was swift, brutal, and ultimately defeated when Alice destroyed the source, both here and in the real world. The Dollmaker. Of course, the ichor didn't vanish. It probably never will."

A number of dolls wielding flashlights appeared below, driving back the ichor. The smell of burnt toast soon filled the air as the ichor was slowly but surely consumed by the light.

"But without its source," the Hatter continued, "It struggles to even take form."

"So if I take out the source," Glen said, "The ichor loses a good chunk of its power."

"Exactly!" The Hatter said. "The main conduit closes, and from that moment on, the ichor's fighting a losing battle. Some vestiges will always remain, but as long as people remain vigilant, the threat should be minimal."

The Hatter took out an old battered pocket watch and glanced at it for a moment. "And that is all for today, Miss Sunshine. It's almost time for Tea, and I shan't be late for the Glass Princess."

"Oh!" Glen said, "Did your friends agree to join you?"

The Hatter sagged for a moment before drawing himself up. "Well, no, but one day they will! And I'll be ready! And then every thing will be back the way it was!"

The Hatter took off without another word. Glen watched for a few moments before realizing that he'd left her on the skeleton of an old building with no way down.

"Oh well," Glen muttered, "I'm done here for the day anyway."

She closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again to find herself in her usual chair in Alice's study. Ashi was there, watching her with the intensity of a cat.

"Oh," Glen said, sitting up. "Hey, Ashi. Everything okay?"

"Is it?" Ashi asked, a curious look on her face. "You were well out of it."

"Just doing a little research."

"In your sleep?"

Glen chuckled until she realized Ashi was legitimately confused. "I was speaking with one of Alice's friends about something I've been encountering in the last few realities I've passed through. It's this black tar-like stuff we've been calling 'the ichor'."

To Glen's surprise, Ashi froze on the spot. "Do … do you know what it is?"

"Eh, kinda. Negative emotion given physical form. Even worse, now I'm learning that it can manifests monsters."

"You mean it changes shape?"

"Dunno for sure. The one I saw was barely human. Apparently they can get a lot bigger. Frankly, it's the source that bothers me; apparently there's someone who acts as a conduit to the stuff. The good news is that I can stop the spread of ichor by taking out the conduit. The bad news is I'm not sure …"

Glen sighed and lay back in her chair. "No, that's a lie. The problem is that I think I know who it is, and I don't know what to do about it … but I gotta do something. The stuff's spreading through multiple realities, and sooner or later, it'll find its way here."

Glen shook her head. "Ugh. Enough about the ichor. How'd it go with the search? Did you find out anything useful in Alice's library?"

"Nothing directly useful. I've got a vague idea of the time period, but it's still hundreds of years." She hesitated a moment before asking, "Glen, you seem to be knowledgeable in strange matters. What do you know of Aku?"

"A-who?" Glen asked.

"He … he was a shape-shifting demon with time-traveling powers from Jack's … our time. Jack and I defeated him."

"Good for the both of you. Time travel's a messy business."

"Believe me, I know," Ashi said, bowing her head. "So you have never heard of Aku?"

"Doesn't ring any bells," Glen admitted, "But then again, I do most of my work on Vinta. A shame I can't shift realities reliably, or I'd take ya to Teach's library over in C-32's Elsewhere Mansion. He's got records on everything."

There was something in Ashi's expression that prompted Glen to ask, "Hey, what's wrong? Are the kids giving you trouble?"

"Not at all," Ashi said, a slight blush in her cheeks. "I just … your description of the ichor reminded me of Aku."

"But you killed Aku," Glen said.

Ashi nodded. "Yes, but … well, it was said that he had servants who possessed some of his powers. Black skin, the ability to shape-shift, flaming eyes."

"Flaming eyes?" Glen interrupted. "I can stop you right there; I've seen quite a bit of ichor, but none of it was on fire. If anything, the one thing with a face I've seen had solid black eyes … dribbling ichor, if you want the truth of it. Besides, there's no evidence of time-traveling ichor, thank the Creator."

Seeing Ashi's still-troubled face, Glen chuckled and stood up. "Don't worry, Ash: ichor, Aku, or not, we'll get you home. I promise. Now, let's give Alice a break and get a start on dinner, yeah?"


	9. Chapter 9 - Chorus

**Chorus**

The roads of Nowhere were deserted as Asriel, Golemite, and Shye headed for the western exit of the city. News of the ichor had spread quickly through the city, leading many residents to vacate to safer places.

"You okay, Azzie?" Golemite asked, her stone face worried. "You look like you swallowed somethin' bad."

"I'm fine," Asriel said, shaking his head. "Just … worried, that's all."

"Yeah, you and me both." Turning her head to Shye, Golemite said, "Ya sure you don't wanna go back to the Brass Woods? They're shuttin' down the roads at midnight."

"Not a chance," Shye said, jaw jutting out stubbornly. "I'm gonna help you and Azzie find what's doing this and kick it in the jewels."

Letting out a laugh, Golemite said, "Good on ya."

They eventually reached the final road connecting Nowhere to the Skyway. Two Skyway officers guarded the path, ready to cut it should the ichor appear.

"No sign of the stuff yet, sir," Said the first officer, saluting.

Golemite waved him off. "Still gonna break the road at midnight?"

"Y-yes," the second officer said. "No one's seen more of the stuff that destroyed the path to the Floating Fields, but the boss wants to be sure."

"And what happens if we need to come back?" Asriel asked.

"Well, you and Golemite shouldn't have trouble reconnecting a simple road. You shouldn't have to, though; Skyway officers will be watching the borders; if they see you or anyone else needing help, they'll be able to let them back in." The officer paused, her cat-like face filled with worry. "Are you sure you want to leave? We could really use you both here in case that stuff makes a reappearance."

"I know, I know," Asriel said, "But we have a lead on the source of that crud. If we can find it and take it out, everyone should be safe."

The cat officer sighed. "Well, for what it's worth, we're all rootin' for ya, Azzie. Take care of business and come back safe, okay?"

"Of course we well," Golemite said, putting her hand on Asriel and Shye's shoulders. "Be back before you even realize we're gone."

"That would be some trick," the cat guard said, eyeing Golemite's massive frame.

"Welp," Golemite said, turning away from the guards, "Let's get to gettin'."

All too soon, Nowhere was just a dark blob on the horizon. They passed over skyway roads with no obstruction or traffic; just the floating roads, the stars above, and the infinite blackness below. Asriel found the darkness rather comforting; it reminded him of the caverns back in the Underground.

Of course, it couldn't last forever. Eventually, the dark chasm beneath the road became snow-covered turf that gave way quickly to the dark stone of the chorus mountains. Asriel could feel a low hum the moment he reached the point where the Skyway touched the base of the mountain. It was a low and deep hum, oddly pervasive but not that unpleasant. It changed periodically, seemingly with every burst of wind, yet maintained a harmony of its own.

As more and more mountain towered over them, other hums joined the first. Before long, the wind brought with it gentle melodies that seemed to rise from the mountains themselves.

"Whoa!" Shye said, "Listen! Doesn't that sound a little like … like singing?"

"It's beautiful," whispered Asriel.

Golemite put her massive hand on their shoulders. "C'mon; cold ain't gonna bother me, but you two are gonna end up icicles before long."

The snow started about thirty minutes further down the black stone path. It was just a gentle snowfall at first, but it grew stronger by the minute. Asriel and Shye both had brought extra clothes for the journey (not to mention that they both had fur), but as the snow became a blizzard, even that wasn't enough to keep the bitter cold from seeping through their assembled layers. Asriel and Shye huddled together for additional warmth as Golemite shielded them from the worst of it, her massive frame blocking much of the wind and snow and her feet pounding the snow flat enough for them to follow with ease.

The mountains surrounded them as they pressed onward, the blizzard blowing harder than ever. Soon the beauty of the Chorus mountains was lost to Asriel. He focused his thoughts completely on walking, trying his best to ignore the biting cold that was quickly leaving most of him feeling numb. Only the warmth of Shye beside him and the steady thud of Golemite ahead let him know his friends were still there.

Without warning, Golemite came to a halt, causing Asriel and Shye to both bump into her.

"Hey!" Golemite called out, several icicles hanging off her features. "Look!"

Asriel stared ahead, too cold and tired to speak. At first, he only saw the falling snow, but as he continued peering into the swirling maelstrom, he could see the mountain ahead of them wasn't just a mountain; it was hard to make out all the details, but what looked to be a massive castle was carved right into the side of the mountain ahead.

"We're almost there!" Golemite said, gesturing for them to follow. "Just a little further."

Asriel tried to push himself, but his energy was all but gone. All he could do was keep walking ahead, and even that grew more difficult as Shye's body went limp beside him.

"Shye!" He said, holding her up. "Shye, c'mon! We're almost there!"

She murmured, "jus' a little nap …"

Gritting his teeth, Asriel held her up and continued forward. He could barely make Golemite out ahead of him, and tried to call out for him only for his voice to vanish in the wind. He pushed on, every step an agony of effort as fatigue slowly overcame him. Eventually he stumbled, his foot catching on a stray bit of rock under the snow and sending him falling head-first onto the soft white snowbank. Too tired to move, he soon found himself feeling very sleepy.

"Maybe … just a few minutes," He murmured, clutching Shye to him.

Asriel awoke in a soft bed, his body consumed by a warm haze that nearly made him fall back asleep until he remembered his friends. Sitting up, he said, "Shye! Golemite!"

A panda nurse hurried over to him, firmly but gently pressing him back down on the bed. "Mister Dreemurr, you need to rest."

"My friends!" Asriel protested.

"Are quite all right." A tall robed figure quietly walked through the room to stand by Asriel's beside. "Golemite is fine, and your friend Shye is in the bed beside yours."

Asriel looked to the next bed over and breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of Shye sleeping soundly, little Mena curled up at her feet.

The tall figure sat in the chair beside his bed, a translucent pair of skeletal hands performing an array of gestures as the figure spoke. "Fortunately, you and your friend collapsed just a few feet from the barrier protecting this University. It's impressive that you made it so far on foot; most who travel here use more … ethereal channels. Trust me; there's far less snow."

Not sure what to say to that, Asriel instead asked, "Who are you?"

The robed figure let out a chuckle. "An old friend of your parents … and of yours, Prince Asriel, though I doubt you remember me."

At that point, he pulled back his hood. The man was a skeleton, taller than Papyrus, yet his skull seemed more serious. Perhaps it was the glasses he wore, or the way his robe looked more like a lab coat with the hood down. Asriel did recognize him, however.

"Professor Gaster?" Asriel said, not bothering to hide his surprise.

"That's right," Gaster said, looking somewhat taken aback but pleased. "I was the Royal Scientist until … well, that can wait. For now, I'd like to ask you a few questions."

"He needs rest, Professor," said the panda nurse.

"I understand," Gaster replied, "But there is much to be done, and time is of the essense. The sooner I bring him up to speed …"

"All right," the panda nurse said with a sigh. "Ten minutes, but then you'll have to go."

Gaster bowed. "Of course, Miss Merryweather." As she moved to check on another patient, Gaster said, "I must confess, I was surprised to see you … though not as surprised as I was to learn your companion was Golemite. How did he end up in such a body?"

"It's a long story," Asriel told him. "Basically, he lost his head and some friends we made down in the Precious Meadows helped put what was left back together."

"I see," Gaster said, tapping his chin. "And I suppose Beget couldn't resist the urge to play a prank on him, yes?"

"You know Beget?"

"And Archie," Gaster said, smiling. "I am told you provided them assistance at a great cost. Tell me something, Prince Asriel-"

"Just Asriel," Asriel said quickly.

"I beg your pardon. Tell me, Asriel, did it not strike you as strange how similar Archie and Beget were to my sons, Sans and Papyrus? Or how similar Captain Naddy and Slypha appear to Captain Undyne of the royal guard and my old assistant, Alphys?

"It did seem a little weird," Asriel admitted, "But ever since I came to the Deep, I've seen all sorts of weird stuff."

"That's because the Deep lies on the border between the Dream Realm and reality. Beget and Archie are connected to Sans and Papyrus, just as you too are connected to another," Gaster said, "I believe the proper term is 'nixil'."

"Nixil?" Asriel repeated.

"A being native to the dream realm that lives symbiotically with someone from the waking world," Gaster told him. "It is normally the only way that a person from either world can experience the other … yet the Deep is a bridge between them. Here, we can both exist and even speak to each other."

"Then … everyone I've seen … they're like the dream version of someone real?"

"For the most part, yes," Gaster said. "Some are truly monsters who left the Underground, like your friend, Golemite, but many are linked to the monsters of the Underground, and even some non-monsters."

Asriel asked, "Like humans?"

"And others." Gaster said. "You, however, are different. You came here because that which you bear can only exist in Dreams.

Asriel reflexively touched his chest.

"That's right," Gaster said, "The Everstar. Here, it allows you to exist in your true form."

Asriel felt his heart sink. "You know about Flowey?"

"I was there when you turned to dust, Prince Asriel," Gaster said sadly. "A terrible tragedy, considering the death of your sister as well. No wonder it led to the rift between your parents. If only I'd succeeded in finding a way around the barrier …" Gaster sighed and shook his head. "What is past is past. We have matters to discuss. You came here because of the ichor, yes?"

Asriel fought the urge to sit up. "You know what it is?"

"I do," Gaster said, sadness again in his voice. "and if we don't stop it, it will spread to the Deep and the Underground, and eventually even to the Surface."

"What is it?" Asriel asked. "Why is it here?"

"I believe it is merely a symptom of something far worse," Gaster said. "Something that wants nothing more or less than the destruction of everything … and I believe the Everstar is the key to stopping it."

"I don't understand."

"You will," Gaster said, patting Asriel's shoulder. "But for now, you should rest. We will continue when the others get here."

Asriel tried to ask who the others were, but only let out a yawn. Feeling suddenly very tired, he said, "All right, Professor Gaster."


	10. Chapter 10 - Nice Cuppa

**Nice Cuppa**

Fuku and Eliza sat huddled together on the threadbare couch in the former home formerly used by the Undyne of whatever horror of a reality they'd found themselves in. Eliza trembled, clutching Fuku's arm as they all waited for their 'hosts' to return.

It was clear that Undyne hadn't been back to her old place in quite some time, hardly surprising seeing as she was now the Queen of the Underground. Everything was covered with a thick layer of dust, including the remains of the piano, which apparently bore the brunt of Undyne's anger at some point. Much of the furniture was broken, for that matter; apparently Undyne had been angry quite a lot before becoming Queen.

Sans rummaged around the remains of the kitchen, eventually finding a box containing a few packets of tea. "Hey, Fuku! Look what I found!"

"You're a godsend, sweetie." She hurried over, Eliza still by her side, and gave Sans a peck on the cheekbone before taking the tea packets from him and moving to the sink.

As she prepared the tea, Sans took the opportunity to look at what remained of his right arm. "Another inch" , he murmured, adjusting the fake arm bone Grillby had given him.

"Did you say something, sweetie?" Fuku asked, glancing back at him.

"Uh, just talkin' to myself." Sans said, sitting back down on the couch. "So, what do you think of the other me?"

"I think I'd like to find a way back home as quickly as possible," she admitted. "It was bad enough seeing dad like that, and hearing the other me scream, but seeing the other you? That horrible crack … and his eye. What happened to him?"

"No idea," Sans said. It wasn't quite a lie; he honestly had no idea what could cause the sickening red glow emanating from his alternate's eye, but something about the way the other Sans looked at him was almost … hungry. Given the position of the crack and … Sans shuddered and shook his head. No use in speculating, and definitely no use in scaring Fuku or Eliza. Poor Eliza looked like she couldn't handle too many more scares.

They sat around the table and sipped at their tea in silence. It was Fuku who finally broke the silence, asking, "Why did they bring us here? I mean, what are we waiting for anyway?"

"Dunno," Sans said, "But they obviously aren't going to turn us in … or turn you over to that mob, squirt. He's Sans, after all; he coulda just brought us right to the palace via a shortcut."

Neither Fuku nor Eliza seemed particularly relieved by this news. Sans decided not to mention the possibility that the skeletal brothers simply wanted their new prisoners to themselves. Instead, he said, "So, any bets on how fish-lady looks here? I mean, Papyrus has the weird teeth, the other me's got the crack and the red eye. I'm thinkin' Undyne's got more fins and another row of teeth."

Fuku snorted into her cup and had to set it down a moment. Even Eliza smiled a little, likely more at Fuku's reaction than the joke itself.

"And Alphys will have three tails," Fuku said, smiling, "oh, and she's a boy here … with a silly accent."

"I bet the river person's got one of those viking boats. Bet he's all spooky too," said Sans with a chuckle.

"You're not far off there." Said the other Sans, now sitting at the remaining seat at the table.

Sans sighed and propped his head up with his remaining arm. "Now I know why people find that so annoying."

"Can't get through the front door anymore," Sans said, propping his feet on the table. "Let's just say when things started getting bad, people got a little … destructive. For the record, last time I saw Alphys, she looked just like she always does."

"Big yellow lizard with glasses, right?" Seeing his other self nod, Sans said, "Well, I suppose not everything has to be different."

"Mind you, she can't do much lookin' herself," Sans said, his grin widening. "Undyne took her eyes for … well, let's just say the Royal Scientist gave Her Majesty some bad info that backfired."

"Oh my goodness," Fuku said, holding a hand to her mouth. "But I thought Undyne and Alphys were … um …"

"Oh, they were," said the other Sans. "Talk about a bad breakup, yeah? Still, can't say I felt bad about it. Me and Alphys hadn't seen quite eye-to-eye for a while … not my fault, but …" The other Sans rubbed the crack in his skull for a moment before chuckling and saying, "well, like I said, I didn't feel bad when she got what she deserved."

"You didn't try fixin' the Core?" Sans asked.

"Of course we tried. We all tried, but even with the schematics, we couldn't figure it out. We went over the thing inch by inch, repaired or replaced anything that even looked a little broken, and still it doesn't work … and without the core, the Underground is dying." The other Sans shook his head and looked at the rest of the group. "But the problem I got right now is figurin' out how to deal with you. Everyone in Snowdin's lookin' for the kid, and if Undyne finds out about you or her … well, let's just say neither of you would care much for it."

"Well, we don't plan on being here long," Sans said. "I need the crystal."

"The crystal?" Other Sans repeated. "What crystal?"

"The one we used with the machine at our house," Sans said. The one we tried to use to rescue … you know. We can use it to travel out of this dimension."

"And you could come with us," Fuku blurted out. Seeing the surprised look on both Sans's faces, she said, "We've evacuated other realities before, realities where the barrier's been broken!"

"Not so sure that would be a good idea," the Other Sans said. "Drop this lot with a bunch of humans, and there'll be another war. A very BRIEF war. As for the crystal, well … last I saw, it was in Alphys's lab. I thought it might be a good catalyst to get the core up and running before … before Alphys and I had our little falling-out."

"Right," Sans said, rising to his feet. "Let's go get it."

The other Sans stood up as well, his smile fading. "Whoa, there; you can't just go walking around out there like that."

Sans froze, his remaining hand going to his replacement arm.

Alternate Sans tapped Sans's skull three times, saying, "Undyne gets word of you, and figures out what you are, she'll be after you more than the rest of the Underground is already for the human."

Eliza shuddered even as Fuku put a supportive arm over the little girl's shoulders.

The alternate Sans continued, "Besides, me just walkin' into Alphys's Lab would be kinda suspicious. We're gonna need to get you and the kid a disguise. Fortunately, I think I know exactly what needs to be done here."

Fuku turned as Sans and Eliza stepped out of Undyne's house. Eliza nervously shuffled forward, her skin covered with black and white paint that, at a distance, might make her seem to be a skeleton. Sans had a little paint too, as well as a small bit of red plastic that fit in his eye-socket, effectively making him look like his alternate counterpart … almost.

"Sans," Fuku said, sounding surprised. "You're a little taller than … well, the other Sans."

Both Sanses exchanged curious looks. Fuku was right, however; Sans had a good few inches on his other self.

"Huh," the other Sans said, "Things must be goin' pretty sweet if you had a growth spurt. Just slouch a bit … well, a bit more than usual, and it'll be fine."

"What about the …" Fuku said hesitantly, only for the other Sans to quickly say, "Ah, leave it. It's kinda cute. Besides, it'll help you tell us apart."

"What?" Sans asked, but his alternate self just motioned for them to follow.

They walked through the waterways of Waterfall amidst the sound of flowing water. It looked about the same to Sans, if maybe a bit dirtier than he imagined. The water was murky, and the wooden walkways were partly rotted, some sections even having collapsed. Even the stone walls and ceiling looked dirty; the crystals once resembling stars were barely visible.

"This place could use some cleaning," Fuku observed.

The other Sans chuckled. "Not many people left in waterfall these days. Gangs from New Home took to raiding this place for food, then … well, let's just say other food."

"They ate the …" Fuku shuddered. "but that's-"

"They're desperate," Other Sans said with a shrug. "Not much food left. Without the Core, nothing grows down here but echo flowers and glowing mushrooms, and we can't eat either."

"What about the garbage dump?" Sans asked. "There's always a bit of food there … nothin' great, mind, but-"

"Food from the surface's been kinda sparse lately. Not even much garbage, to be honest." Looking to Eliza, Other Sans said, "From the look of your friend, I'm guessing the Surface ain't doin' too well either."

Eliza bowed her head, still clutching Fuku's hand.

"Still," Other Sans continued, "we sweep the dumps for food every now and then. Shouldn't be anyone today, but we should still be careful."

Glancing at Sans, Other Sans asked, "So, your world … what's it like?"

"Mostly dead," Sans said. "Frisk … the seventh human, she came down and slaughtered pretty much everyone."

Fuku said, "And my world's been drowned in ichor."

"Ichor?"

"It's this thick black goop," Sans explained. "One touch, and it spreads over monsters. We barely got out of that reality alive … thanks to Frisk."

"Frisk? The kid who killed everyone?"

"In that universe, she was kind and gentle," Fuku told the Other Sans. "And we ended up in an Underground where the Barrier was already down, and the Underground itself turned into a massive movie and television studio."

Other Sans looked to Sans, who simply nodded and said, "Our other selves are big-time comedians over there. Paps even has a cooking show."

To Sans's surprise, Other Sans laughed at this … not the harsh mocking laugh he used before, but a more genuine laugh. "Wish I could see that. Paps has been dealing with the situation down here well, but … ah, nevermind."

"What is it?" Fuku pressed. "I recognize that look."

"You hardly know me, lady."

"No, but I know my fiance, and he gets that look too when he's trying to hide something from me."

"Fiance? Seriously?" Other Sans looked to Sans. "You two are gonna get hitched?"

"Once we're back home, yeah," Sans said, flashing a smile at Fuku.

Other Sans shook his head. "Well, damn. Never thought I'd end up as a family man. Good on ya."

The walked a little farther down the partially rotten walkways before Sans finally asked the question that had been on his mind since first meeting his other self. "Why are you helping us?"

"Whaddya mean?" Other Sans said, shrugging. "We're helpful guys, right?"

"Yeah, altruisim's our middle name," said Sans, giving his other self a look that he hoped made it clear he wasn't buying it.

Other Sans sighed. "This … mess that our world's become … it's our mess. You're right not to trust me; the kids I brought to Grillby trusted me too, and you saw what happened to them. Thing is, I gave up on this reality a long time ago; we're screwed. It's bad enough that we suffer without dragging you into it."

Sans stared Other Sans in the eye for a long time before asking, "What do you think is wrong with the Core?"

At this, Other Sans sighed. "I don't know. I think I've been over ever piece of the damn thing myself, and I ain't found nuthin' to explain why it's not working … except …"

"Except?" Fuku said, sounding hopeful.

"Well, the Core draws in energy directly from the planet, but to do that, it needs to tap into the lifestream of the planet. Basically, it routes the energy through the Underground power grid, then puts it back into the stream so that it doesn't effect the saturation of the nearby areas. Problem is, something broke our connection to the lifestream. If I'm right, we need to reconnect to it, draw the stream back through the core again. To do that, we'd need some kind of catalyst to produce enough stream energy to reroute the normal flow."

"I understand," Fuku said, nodding. "By creating a stream focal point, the normal stream pathways will naturally move to join with it. Once that connection is made, the energy will flow through the core and the underground again."

Other Sans looked at Sans again. "She's way too smart for us … you know that, right?"

"Maybe … maybe we can help," Sans said. "Maybe if we can find a catalyst-"

"Don't you think we've tried? We tried everything we could think of to get the Core running again, even …" Other Sans stopped, his hand moving to the crack on his skull for a moment only to drop to his side again. "Nothin' down here has that kind of power."

"Then maybe we can find something in our reality," Sans said. "We've got a friend who can control the dimensional travel thing … er, kinda. Soon as we find her and a good catalyst, she can bring us back."

Other Sans looked at Sans, then at Fuku. "You'd come back here?"

"We can't just leave you like this," Fuku said. "And Glen … our friend, she'd want to help too."

"It's practically her job," Sans said with a laugh.

Other Sans stared at them for a long moment before a smile spread across his face. "All right then! Let's go find that crys- LOOK OUT!"

A bright light flashed toward them. Other Sans and Sans pulled up a wall of bones, only for the burst of energy to shatter them and pass only inches from Eliza and Fuku, eventually slamming into the stone wall and showering them with bits of rock.

A gleam of metal caught Sans's eye through the cloud of dust. A towering humanoid form stepped forward, the energy cannons that were its arms pointed at Fuku. Sans stepped between them, snapping the fingers of his remaining hand as he summoned his Gaster Blaster. The massive skull let out a blast of energy at the robotic attacker, but an energy shield sprang to life around the robot in time to absorb the blast before fizzling out.

"My, my, my," Intoned a chillingly-familiar voice, "You're just full of surprises, aren't you, darling?"

Sans's eye-sockets widened as the armor plating protecting the construct's face receded, revealing a smirk he'd never forget.

"Mettaton?" He said incredulously.


	11. Chapter 11 - The Good Tems and Bad Tems

**The Good Tems and The Bad Tems**

The glowing mushrooms whizzed past Sans as he followed Fuku, Eliza, and his other self through the black-dirt fields of underground. There was a burst of light behind him, followed by a nearby mushroom exploding into a thousand glowing bits that rained through the air. The Mettaton of that dimension had seen numerous upgrades to both armor and weaponry, though the mushrooms of the field provided Sans and company some cover from the energy blasts.

The other Sans led the chase, weaving through the field while urging the others on. Sans remained in the back, doing his best to block the incoming blasts with his own magic. The bones bounced off Mettaton's sleek black metal armor, only serving to deepen the cruel smile on the robot's face.

"You can't run forever, darling," Mettaton called out in a sing-song voice.

"Won't stop me from trying," the Other Sans shouted back. "Tell Alphys I'll take a rain-check."

Sans didn't speak; it was taking all his focus to keep up with the others, and even then, what was left of his left arm was throbbing from the effort. He had a rough idea of where they were in Waterfall, but that was hardly comforting; if Hotland was their destination, they still had a good ways to go.

"Hang on," Other Sans called back, "We're almost there!"

"What are …" Sans looked ahead, his eye-sockets widening. The cavern ahead was pitch black. The moment they stepped through the passage, darkness fell over them like a curtain. Sans knew the place, even though he usually took a shortcut around it to avoid the headache. The chamber had an artificial darkness enchantment over it that could only be displaced by the light of several strategically placed mushroom patches. Even Fuku's flames, usually bright enough to provide light in the darkest situations, seemed to have been snuffed out, if only in a visual sense.

"Sans!" Fuku's voice called out ahead of Sans.

"It's all right!" Sans said, running in the direction of her voice. "There should be a mushroom patch right-"

Light flared ahead of them … for only a few moments. Sans caught sight of his other self swinging a knife at the mushrooms before darkness fell over the room again.

"Run all you want," Mettaton said, his voice uncomfortably close, "I'll still find you, darling."

Sans jumped at the sound of energy blasts being fired, and again as the blasts hit somewhere close enough to send bits of dirt and stone in the air. He ran forward blindly in the direction he'd heard Fuku's voice only to bump straight into the wall. He fumbled around the wall with his remaining hand, scrambling to find the proper passage ahead as the steady thuds of Mettaton's footsteps grew louder behind him. He had to fight the urge to let out a triumphant cry when his hand found an open corridor, and wasted no time in hurrying through it.

He kept moving, feeling his way along the passage until finding an opening until Mettaton's footsteps vanished into the distance. Breathing a sigh of relief, he whispered, "I think he's gone."

There was no response. Trying not to panic, he whispered, "Fuku? Eliza?"

Still hearing no answer, he moved away from the wall and felt along the ground until his hand touched the stalk of a mushroom. The entire patch of mushrooms lit up instantly, illuminated the cavern around him and revealing that he was completely alone.

"Dammit," Sans swore. The dark cavern was a maze, filled with redundant corridors, looping paths, and dead ends. Even if he could find the others, Mettaton was no doubt still stomping around somewhere, looking for them. Then again, if he stayed there, who knows what would come and find him.

"HOI!"

Sans let out a shriek that echoed through the caverns before turning and seeing the smiling face of a single Temmie. The cat-like creature seemed thin and had bags under its eyes, yet had lost little of the cheerfulness for which Temmie-kind was known.

"Whoa there!" Sans said, kneeling down to look the Temmie in the eyes. "You scared the heck outta me, little … er, Temmie."

"Bob," the Temmie said. "Tem'm Bob's really cool!"

"Bob it is then," Sans glanced around and said, "I lost my friends … a fire elemental and a little girl. Have you seen them?"

"Tem'm sorry. Tem Bob lost frends too. Haven't seen fire lady or little hooman."

Seeing the little fellow so downcast hit Sans right in his feels. He ruffled Bob's hair and said, "S'okay. It was a long shot."

Temmie Bob sniffed. At first, Sans thought the little fellow was crying, but when he continued sniffing, Sans realized the Temmie was gradually turning toward his fake arm.

"TEMMIE smells FOOB! u have FOOB for tEMMIE?"

"I don't …" Sans paused, looking at the fake arm. The bone was gnawed, but unbroken. Skeleton bones were just bones, but Sans knew Human bones had marrow … not an optimal food source, but for someone who was starving, it was something.

"Sure thing, little guy." Sans untied the fake arm bones and offered the humerus to Bob. The Temmie snatched the bone away and went to work on it with surprisingly sharp little teeth. In a matter of moments, he'd broken through the bone.

Sans watched for a few moments as the little monster cat made short work of the bone. Shaking his head at the sad sight, he looked around for a few moments before grabbing the longest of the mushrooms and using it as a replacement for the humerous. It was a bit more wobbly than the bone, but looked okay with the coat covering it.

He turned back to see the Temmie staring at him.

"Dat not U real arm. U lost arm?" Bob asked.

"Yeah. Long story," Sans said, glancing at his stump again. Another inch gone … barely enough to tie on his fake arm. Shaking his head, he said, "How about you? Things must be pretty bad in Temmie village."

"Tem village iz very bad. No foob, except weak temmie. Dat's y Bob left tem village." Bob shook his head. "Tem dont want tu be da weak temmie."

"You mean they eat …" Sans shuddered. "Feral Temmies. Wonderful. This place gets better and better."

"More foob for tem?" Bob asked hopefully.

"Tell you what," Sans said, "Help me get back on the path to Hotland, and I'll give you the rest of this fake arm, and tell you where you can get some more." As grisly as it was, neither Grillby nor the remains of the humans he'd cooked were likely to complain.

"Really? wow! You got a deal! Hold Bob's tail, and Bob will show you tha way!"

Sans gingerly took hold of the black tip of the temmie's tail, and was promptly yanked forward as the invigorated temmie leapt into motion. Darkness surrounded Sans as the bouncing temmie Bob pulled him through the caverns, occasionally switching direction without warning. Sans nearly lost his grip.

Eventually, one bounce pulled him from the dark cavern. He stared at the field of mushrooms, cave grass, and echo flowers for a moment before Bob's next bounce jerked him forward once again. They were half-way across the field when Bob suddenly came to a halt.

"Thanks for that," Sans said, glad of the chance to rest for a moment. "Fuku's been on me to get more exercise, but no need to overdo it, eh?"

Bob didn't respond. It was then Sans realized that the little Temmie was shaking all over.

"Bad temmie," he whimpered, backing against Sans's leg.

"No, you're a good temmie," Sans told him. "A very good temmie, and …"

He stopped at the sound of a low growl. It started off in one direction, only to quickly be joined by others until they were surrounded by the low uncomfortable noise. Sans spun about, looking for the source of the growling but only seeing eyes … dozens of pairs in the tall grass staring directly at them.

"Temmie Bob bring dinner?" asked a small voice barely louder than the growling.

"What?" Sans said, sockets widening in horror. "Bob … you didn't …"

"No!" Temmie Bob said, still quivering. "Temmie Bob helping friend Sanes … will get dinner after. Good bones! Sanes tell where they are!"

This apparently was not the response the voices wanted. "Temmie Bob not bring dinner … then Temmie Bob is dinner."

A chorus of dark giggles and growling answered this remark, causing Temmie Bob to shrink back eve further.

"Hey now," Sans said, "Bob's with me."

"Dinner … Temmie Bob … dinner … Sanes …"

Sans could see the temmies now; at least a dozen surrounding them, and while Bob was much like the temmies of Sans's universe, these temmies looked far more threatening. Sharp teeth and glinting black eyes, coupled with a thin physique brought about by near-starvation, these temmies might as well have been a pack of wolves.

"Oh, come on, guys," Sans said, raising his hands. "You don't wanna eat us. You'll get a temmie-ache."

The temmies continued growling and carefully padding closer.

Sighing, Sans quickly considered his options. He was strong, but a whole pack of hungry temmies was going to be a bit much for him, especially considering his bad arm.

"My arm," he murmured, an idea forming in his mind. He popped the skeletal hand off his forearm and held it up for everyone to see.

"You hungry?" he asked as he saw the sparkling black eyes all focused on him, "Good! Go Fetch!"

The Temmies leapt after the hand the moment it left Sans's actual hand. The grass rustled as they surrounded the fallen bones, the sound of crunching soon filling the air.

Sans picked up Bob with his remaining arm and ran. Now that they were out of the dark cavern, he had a pretty good idea which way to go. He knew that the small finger bones wouldn't last long among the ravenous temmies, and sure enough, he heard sounds of many small bodies rushing through the grass behind him.

Part of him wanted to cry out in joy when his sneakered foot came down on the path. Spinning on his heel, he turned his sights toward Hotland. Temmies leapt at him, but he'd evaded far worse than even them before; anywhere a feral Temmie fell with fangs and claws ready to tear into them would become suddenly empty as Sans seemed to vanish and reappear just a few feet away.

Still, Sans knew he couldn't keep it up forever. He hoped the Temmies wouldn't follow him into Hotland, a hope that he realized was futile as they passed the giant marquee (non-functioning, of course) on the very border of Hotland. He'd gained some ground on them, but the Temmies were still behind him, mouths frothing in anticipation of their next meal.

A blast of heat hit Sans's skull as he dashed into the first magma-filled cavern, only to skid to a halt; ahead of him was the bridge to Hotland. Fuku and the Other Sans were hurriedly running across the bridge, Other Sans looking as pained as Sans felt at so much exertion. That wasn't what made Sans stop, however; just before the bridge stood Mettaton, weapons aimed at the retreating monsters ahead … no, Sans realized Mettaton wasn't aiming for them. He didn't have to; all he had to do was hit the bridge.

Hearing the yipping behind him growing closer, Sans suddenly had a wild idea. Dropping Bob at his feet, Sans yanked out the final arm bone and held it up for the Temmie's to see. They all came to a halt, their eyes on the potential food.

"Hungry?" Sans asked, "Then go get it!"

He flung the bone at Mettaton. Mettaton spun about and caught it with one hand, fixing Sans with an evil glare that quickly faltered as the horde of ravenous temmies raced past Sans and Bob and leapt onto the robot.

"Get off me!" Mettaton screeched, swatting fruitlessly at the Temmies, but they just kept clawing and biting at the automaton, their sharp teeth wearing through the metal in moments.

Still shrieking, Mettaton took a step back, only for the ground to crumble beneath his feet. He fell from the platform, screaming as he and a cloud of feral Temmies fell to their doom. Sans watched until they were nothing more than a speck.

"Sans!"

Sans looked up in time to catch Fuku with his remaining arm. She kissed him as the Other Sans approached, an impressed look on his skull.

"I'm impressed," he said, clapping his bony hands together. "I thought you were a goner when we lost you in the cavern. No one lost in there makes it long, not with … well, you saw the temmies."

"Yeah. Oh, right," Sans gestured to Bob. "This is Temmie Bob; he got me back on track."

Fuku knelt by the still-trembling little cat creature and gave it a hug. "Thank you for looking after my fiance."

"Nice lady have foob?" Bob asked hopefully.

"Um, no," She said, looking to Sans.

Nodding, Sans knelt beside Bob as well. "You know Grillbys over in Snowdin? He's got a bunch more bones. Tell him I sent ya, and there won't be no problem."

"Really?" Bob asked, hope flooding into his eyes. Seeing Fuku nod, he let out a whoop and sang, "Thankuu Sanes! Thankuu 4evaar!"

With that, Temmie Bob took off running back to Waterfall.

Sans let out a sigh as he watched him depart. "Y'know, I think I'm gonna miss the little guy."

"Bah. Pests," Other Sans said, "We'll have enough trouble getting into Alphys's lab without a Temmie muckin' things up. C'mon; we're almost there."

Sans watched as his alternate self continued across the bridge, grumbling beneath his breath. "Bunch of fun, that one," he remarked, earning a giggle from Fuku.


	12. Chapter 12 - The Ruined Court

**The Ruined Court**

Somewhere in downtown London, Constable Horace walked his beat at a slow but steady pace. To say he was calm, however, would be a lie; truth be told, he was near the part of his patrol that he'd learned to greatly fear. Even though his demeanor was calm and controlled, his heart beat wildly as he made his way down the sidewalk in front of the Wonderland Orphanage. Someone trained to see such things would notice his pace quickening ever so slightly.

On that day, however, he felt heartened. There were no strange devices lying on the sidewalk or hanging from the wooden fence, no mysterious creatures prowling the yard, no mysterious pinpoints of light flying about like insects. Everything appeared to be completely normal for once, though he could swear he could hear the wheels of a trolley rumbling nearby.

Just as he thought the danger was passed, a loud shout made him jump. A shadow sailed over his head, letting out a loud, "Woo-hoo!" before crashing onto the ground beside him. Heart beating fast, Constable Horace stared at the figure for a moment before a stern look came over his face.

"Missus Soleil!" He snapped.

Glen slid to a halt and slammed a foot down on the back of her skateboard, sending it spinning upwards into her waiting arms. "Oh, heya Constable Horace. Havin' a good day?"

"Saints preserve us! Just what in the name of the good lord are you doin now, lass?"

"Yeah, I wasn't impressed with that either," Glenda said with a shrug. "I could clear a hundred feet back home. It's the cobblestones; I just can't get enough speed going with a road so rough."  
"Missus Soleil," he said, trying his best to keep his eyes averted from the woman's long, muscular legs, most of which were on full display thanks to her shorts. "Does it give you pleasure to scare years off my life?"

"What? Oh, come on," Glen said, clapping a friendly hand on his shoulder. "You weren't scared by a little thing like that, were you? I was just tryin' to show some moves off to the kids."

"Moves?" He looked at the strange wheeled board tucked nearly under her arm. Shaking his head, he said, "Look, the Captain's just looking for an excuse to throw you in the clink. You know that, right?"

"What? Don't tell me he's still goin' on about me and Ash not wearing dresses."

"Well …"

"How could I wear a dress with this?" Glen demanded, waving the skateboard in his face. "Hem would get caught, wouldn't it? Then I'd be rollin' down the street in my panties. Is that what you want? Me wearin' less in public?"

"I …" Horace's face went beet red. "Just be more careful!" With that, he marched away from the orphanage.

Glen chuckled as she climbed back over the fence to rejoin her friends. The children quickly relieved her of the makeshift skateboard, eager to try the ramp she'd set up for them (along with a pile of pillows for where she estimated the inexperienced skateboarders would land). As the first kid rolled unsteadily toward the ramp, Ashi commented, "There were similar devices in my time without the wheels."

"Hoverboards? Yeah," Glen said, "But that kind of technology would stick out in this day and age. Besides, I'd have to find a deposit of Graevnon, and Alice said no to me digging under the orphanage."

Ashu smiled at her. "Can't let you have too much fun, can she?"

"Nah, but I guess it's not like I'm here for fun." Glen's watch beeped. Glancing at its face, she said, "Speak of the Queen; time to see if the Hatter's ready for our next chat."

"Um, Glen," Ashi asked tentatively, "If it's not too much trouble, do you mind if I accompany you?"

"To Wonderland?" Glen asked, surprised. Already they'd been there two months, yet Ashi had never expressed interest in joining Alice and Glen on their little trips. "Well … I guess … I mean, we'll have to limit the trip, you not being a Dreamer. Still, I'm sure Alice wouldn't mind."

"She doesn't," Ashi said quickly. "I already asked her."

"Well then," Glen said with a grin, "By all means."

The moment they entered the house, Glen knew something was wrong. It wasn't anything she could see or hear, but a feeling … and aura. Once upon a time, she wrote such feelings off as superstition, but experience had taught her not to ignore such feelings. Once again, they proved correct; as Glen and Ashi approached Alice's study, the sounds of a heated argument could be heard. The door burst open, startling the Dreamer and her friend as a surly looking man accompanied by a short fellow wearing a bowler hat exited the room. The surly fellow was less a man and more a somewhat more advanced gorilla, the sort of fellow that Glen's automatically filed under 'henchman'.

The surly fellow's lip curled at the sight of Glen, apparently believing himself far more intimidating than any dreadnaught, dragon, or elder thing Glen had faced before. Glen, in turn, gave him the same look she gave her shoes when she stepped in something nasty. Some of this must've made its way through the surly fellow's brain, because he took a step forward, fists raised menacingly only for the short fellow in the hat to put a restraining hand on his shoulder.

"Now, now," the man coaxed, "We're leaving. Good day, ladies."

"Good day," Glen said, eyes narrowed as she watched the two men depart. They didn't try anything else, though Glen did notice Ashi giving them the same steely-eyes glare.

"Strange, isn't it?" Glen commented, "How little the formula changes over time?"

"Pardon?"

"Henchman and their superiors. Organized thugs are one of those weird constants on Earth … heck, across the universe, as far as I've seen. Little men with hulking gorillas enforcing their will."

"Yeah, I've seen it a few times too," Ashi said, a worried look on her face. "But why are they here?"

They met each other's gaze for a moment before hurrying into the study. Alice was seated in her chair, sipping a cup of tea as though everything were normal, despite the face that the bookcases had been torn apart.

"Whoa," Glen said, looking at the books covering most of the floor. "What the heck happened here?"

"It's no matter," Alice said quietly.

Glen stared at her for a moment before jerking a thumb back toward the corridor. "Those guys givin' you trouble? Cuz I can fix that real quick."

"We can fix that, you mean," Ashi said.

"I appreciate the offer," Alice said, "But I have the matter under control. Shall we begin?"

Glen was inclined to argue, but Alice had a way beyond words of making it clear a particular conversation was over. Sighing, Glen made her way through the mess of the study to her usual chair. Ashi cleared a space on the floor and sat there as though she were meditating, something she'd done with surprising regularity since first awakening.

"All right," Glen said, "just close your eyes, and clear your mind, Ash, and we'll take care of the rest."

"Actually," Alice said, "Today will be a little different. I need you both to picture a red rose bud."

Glen sighed and closed her eyes. Picturing a rose was simple, though as a Dreamer, she had to exercise a little effort not to use her innate powers to literally summon a rose, or a bunch of roses, or a bottle of rose perfume … converting dream energy was always a bit temperamental at the best of times.

The rose blossomed in her mind, each petal unfurling until a perfect rose floated within Glen's thoughts. As time passed, the red pigmentation faded and the petals fell from the rose. The stem slowly decayed until it joined the rest of a growing pile of dust. From the dust sprang a single bloom that grew and grew until there was a whole rose bush. More roses bloomed, eventually falling and forming new piles of dust, from which more rose bushes grew until a whole garden or red roses filled her mind.

Glen jumped as a hand touched her shoulder, only to turn and realize she wasn't just imagining the roses anymore; she was standing in a vast overgrown garden with roses filling her vision with red. A vast palace, partially covered with the growth of roses. A rough stone path led further into the garden, Glen presumed toward the crumbling, partially overgrown palace in the distance.

Alice was standing in front of her, her serviceable house clothes once again replaced with a blue dress. She was there as well, her own usual clothes replaced with a solid black form-fitting catsuit.

"Huh," Glen said, "Not quite the look I imagined for you."

Ashi didn't reply; she was looking at her self, her expression horrified.

"Ash," Glen asked, putting what she hoped was a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder, only for Ashi to shrink away from her. "Ash, what's wrong?"

Ashi shook her head silently for a few moments before she took off running into the the maze of roses.

"Ash!" Glen moved to follow her, but Alice caught her by the shoulder.

"I'll find her," Alice promised, "You have a meeting with the Hatter, and you know how he is about being punctual. Follow the stone path, and don't listen to anything the statues tell you."

"Statues?" Glen repeated incredulously, but Alice was already gone, the blue hem of her dress quickly disappearing around a corner of a hedge. Sighing, Glen started down the path. It too had fallen into disrepair, the once smooth path now fragmented and uneven. Roots from the nearby rose bushes regularly broke through the path, dislodging stones as they passed.

The first statue was of a horse. Glen was a bit disappointed; given everything else in Wonderland, she really expected something more fantastic. It was the Dream Realm, however, and Alice had warned her, so Glen wasn't all that surprised when the horse said, "You're going the wrong way, gov."

It was much the same with the statue of a fish, the statue of a crane, and the statue of a large lizard, each delivering the same advice with different words and voices. The lizard in particular was very insistent, leaving Glen in quite a foul mood when she reached the turtle statue.

"Continue onward, and you shall lose your way!" intoned the turtle statue in an overly-dramatic baritone voice.

Glen wheeled around instantly and closed the distance between them in mere seconds.

"How would you know?" Glen demanded.

"Uh …"

"I don't know where I'm going," Glen continued, "So in truth, I have no way. How could I possibly lose my way if I don't have a way? Answer me that?"

The turtle appeared to consider this for a moment before saying in its dramatic voice, "The path you are taking will lead to certain-"

"Oh, shut up!" Glen muttered, stalking away from the statue.

Fortunately, not long after that incident, Glen rounded the corner and found herself in front of what was once undoubtedly a beautiful sweeping stairway leading up the the palace. The roses had claimed much of the palace steps, and what looked to have been heart-shaped statues lining the stairwell. Most of these were missing large chunks, or bore cracks that made it clear they weren't far from falling apart.

"Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair," Glen whispered as she stared at the decaying structure. Shaking her head, she made her way up the stairwell to the familiar figure of the Hatter.

"Heya!" Glen said, smiling and waving at him. "How's it-"

The Hatter's gloved hand quickly covered her mouth. Holding up a finger to his mouth, he whispered, "Silence, Miss Sunshine; golden in other places, but here as essential to life as water. This place wears the façade of death as you might wear a jaunty hat, but don't be fooled! It listens … it watches … and it hates."

The Hatter held Glen, both literally and with his gaze for a few more moments before releasing her from both and moving toward the entrance to the palace. A little spooked, Glen followed as quietly as she could manage.

The inside of the palace didn't look much better than the outside, though Glen could still tell the place must've been fantastic back in its heyday. Alternating ivory and ebony tiles still covered parts of the floor, faded tapestries hung from the walls, and many statues and sculptures still stood. Glen found herself comparing it to some of the museums she'd visited … or in the very least, ran through. It was certainly as cold as the museums she visited, almost unnaturally so.

There was something about it all that was reassuring, however. There were places in the mainstream overcome by industry, where plant life had been all but removed in the name of progress. Seeing places like the palace, however, gave Glen hope. If left to its own devices, nature had a way of reclaiming its own. Glen was so lost in thought that when the Hatter spoke, she nearly leapt out of her boots.

"This was never the best place in which to find oneself," The Hatter said, stepping slowly over a table literally on its last leg. "The Queen of Hearts had quite a temper. Was fond of beheading, too. Nasty combination in anyone, especially a queen."

"I hear that," Glen murmured.

"She tried to behead me once," The Hatter said, "And after I recited poetry for the entertainment of her and her guests as well. I didn't take it personally; I doubt there's a person in Wonderland who didn't get a death-sentence from her Majesty, even before the trouble."

"She changed too, huh?" Glen asked.

The Hatter shuttered as they approached a large set of red doors. "Only in that worst of ways; she gained power."

With the care of a safe-cracker, the Hatter slowly turned the handle of one of the doors and pushed it open a crack. The resulting creak echoed through the doorway, the sound indicating a vast chamber beyond.

"Um, y-your most Highness," the Hatter stuttered, his bent form bending even further in what he likely thought was a bow, "I … that is, my friend and I … my friend, mostly, she requests an audience."

Seconds ticked as silence exuded from the dark chamber like a rolling fog, engulfing both of them. Glen wasn't the sort of person prone to getting the heebie-jeebies, but as they stood and waited there, in front of a portal that led into the dark chamber beyond, she found herself fighting against the urge to summon Headache or her Defiance … or both.

"Maybe we should-" she said.

"Let her approach." The whispered words slithered through the darkness and slipped into Glen's ears, sending a fresh wave of goosebumps rising on her arms.

The Hatter hurriedly stepped aside and gestured toward the door. When Glen didn't move, his gestures became frantic. He was afraid, genuinely afraid of the Red Queen, not that Glen could blame him given what little he'd told her.

Sighing, Glen slipped through the doorway. She'd scarcely taken three steps before the door shut behind her, leaving her shrouding in darkness.

"Great," She muttered. With a snap of her finger, the rune on her right hand lit up enough to see the moth-eaten carpet for about four or five feet around where she stood.

Shaking her head, Glen slowly walked forward. No matter how high she raised her rune hand, the light wasn't strong enough to illuminate anything more than the floor. She wasn't even sure how far she was into the chamber until the same silky voice as before said, "That is far enough. Who are you, child, and why have you come into our presence?"

"Uh, I'm Glen Soleil," Glen said uncertainly, "And I'm here to learn about the darkness behind the ichor."

When no reply was forthcoming, Glen continued, "I've discovered the ichor spreading through the thread realities of a separate core multiverse, and am looking for a way to purge it … or in the very least, protect those that live there from the ichor's effects. The Hatter's taught me that the ichor exists in all realities, and that it can do little on its own, but I still don't know how to find its source. I was hoping that you might-"

"Be silent!" The voice commanded, the silkiness now iron. "We do not tolerate riff-raff such as yourself to presume our actions!"

"Of course, your Highness," Glen said, performing an awkward sort of half-bow to the darkness ahead of her.

Silence again descended upon the chamber, only to be broken by a continuous tapping sound, as though someone with long fingernails were drumming them on some surface.

"We have heard of you, Dreamer," said the voice, now back to it's original silky tone. "A champion of light, the chosen of the Solarius … a true heroine of the Dream Realm. You seek to face the darkness head on? Then allow us to impart this advice; don't."

"Hang on a-"

Lights flared to life around Glen, temporarily binding her. Something thin and covered with some kind of small spikes or thorns caught her leg and dragged her across the floor a good ten feet before she materialized Headache and dug her metal hands into the ground, halting her movement. It didn't last long, as vine wrapped around her other leg and pulled her free with a whip-cracking movement. In moments, her arms were bound by the thorny vines as well. Glen struggled, but ultimately had no choice but to wait as the vines carried her across the chamber to a ruined throne. On the throne sat something that looked like a little girl, its true nature betrayed by the large red claws it bore instead of hands. A red crown sat on her brow, making her identity perfectly clear.

Glen was in the presence of the Red Queen.


	13. Chapter 13 - Stalemate

**Stalemate**

Magical flame danced on the remains of what had been a magnificent chandelier, illuminating the throne room with an eerie reddish tint. The walls were lined with portraits, presumably of the red queen, now torn and dirty. The floor was covered with both the usual broken tiles and a long strip of red carpet leading up to the throne, where the gold and velvet throne of the red queen lay among a bed of roses.

The queen herself rose from her chair and slowly approached the Dreamer hanging from several thorny vines extending from the ceiling. Her body no older than that of a child, her massive claws hung at her sides as she circled around Glen.

"All right," Glen said, trying to ignore the pain of the thorns slowly digging into her skin. "Now what?"

"A lesson, if you are clever enough to absorb it. You seek the heart of darkness from which the ichor spews forth, but suppose you should find it; what then?"

"Then I'd deal with it." Energy blades erupted from the ends of Headache, slashing through the thick vines. Glen landed on her feet, tek-boots appearing on them as she landed. She immediately boosted away from the Red Queen, a good move on her part seeing as more thorny vines were already flying toward her. Glen batted away the vines as they drew near until her energy blades ran out of power, then blasted them with Headache's rivet driver. The heavy rivets pinned the vines against the wall even as more flew toward Glen.

Of course, as a Dreamer (particularly one currently in the Dream Realm), she had more options. With a wave of her hand, the tiled floor shot up, forming a protective shield between her and the incoming vines. The vines quickly slithered over the barrier, but Glen was already gone, having transformed into a sliver of light that shot across the chamber as quick as a lightning bolt. She reappeared behind the Red Queen, both Headaches firing energy grapples to subdue the girl. The Red Queen remained impassive as the grapples wrapped around her, pinning her arms to her side.

Glen's grin fell from her face as the Red Queen raised her arms, the beam of the energy grapples sending out a small pulse shockwave that knocked her back. She landed on her feet, metallic hands extending from Headache in time to catch the vines already reaching for her.

The Red Queen slowly approached Glen even as the Dreamer continued to fight off the approaching vines. "To face the darkness is considered an act of bravery. To face darkness in the seat of its power is an act of foolishness."

"Got it," Glen said through clenched teeth. Metal blades emerged from the sides of Headache and spun about, slicing through several vines.

"We may have lost much of our power," the Red Queen continued, "But here, in the heart of our palace, we remain strong. It would take much effort to remove us, in part because of the power Alice gave to us. "

"Alice? What's she got to do with this?"

"Everything. Wonderland is nothing more or less than a reflection of her. All of the strange and wondrous characters you've encountered; the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, the Glass Queen … even our royal selves are all connected to her. When her family was killed in the fire, Wonderland felt the impact. As she gave in to despair, my power grew until we had this land under our sole control. Under our hand, there was order."

"Yeah, I heard about your order," Glen said, stomping a metal-clad foot down on a vine that got a little too close. "You enslaved the people, slaughtered plenty more."

"I instilled order into the chaos!" The Red Queen snapped, her voice now much higher-pitched and matching her child-like appearance. She quickly composed herself before continuing, "That changed of course as she regained herself. Our power was put in check … but Wonderland still bore the marks of her ordeal. It was weakened … and that was when the ichor appeared, courtesy of the Doll-maker and the Infernal Train. He infected Alice with the ichor, using clever words to convince her to let the infection spread through the cracks."

The Red Queen sneered. "She fought like anything to take our power, then simply gave it away to that mind-bender. She'd have been better off letting us rule."

The vines pulled back into the bushes, leaving Glen standing in the middle of the room with Headache at the ready. The Red Queen sat down primly and laid her claws across her lap.

Not letting down her guard, Glen said, "All right, so Alice is integral to Wonderland. She went insane, her inner darkness, represented by you," here the Red Queen sneered at Glen, who continued, "took control. She fought you off, creating an opening which the dollmaker used to slip into Wonderland..but wait, if he infected Alice, and she's the heart of Wonderland so to speak, wouldn't that mean Alice was the source of Wonderland's ichor infestation?"

"Certainly not," the Red Queen said, "The Doll-maker was the one who let in the ichor. He let it in to his soul, and in turn slipped it into others, used it to hollow them out and leave them husks. Alice fought against the ichor, and once she defeated the Doll-maker, the ichor's power faded. He was the source, and as such, the major threat of the ichor was vanquished with him." There was a dark look on her face as she said, "That is why we never accepted the ichor's offer. Those who let the darkness within their hearts risk losing their hearts altogether."

Something about that last statement made a shiver run through Glen, though she didn't know why. "It contacted you?"

"Not directly, but yes. It promised to give me the power to retake Wonderland … but that time has passed for us. Now we seek only to be left alone in the shambles that is our home."

Glen asked, "So how do I find the source of the ichor? Where is it?"

"This you have already been told," The Red Queen said. "Now, you will leave us. We find your presence … tiresome."

"Wait a damn minute! I'll leave just as soon as … Hey!"

Dark red tendrils shot from under the queen's throne. Moving far faster than the thrones, the red tendrils quickly wrapped around Glen's chest and hurled her across the room. The doors slammed shut moments after she passed the threshold and crashed into the far wall before falling to the ground with a loud 'oof!'.

The Hatter hurried toward Glen and helped her to her feet. "My goodness … are you quite alright? Is your head firmly attached?"

"More or less," Glen said, brushing off her clothes. She stared at the doors for a moment before asking, "She's always this friendly?"

"Oh, no!" The Hatter said, "I've never known anyone but Alice to survive a meeting with her. You are to be commended!"

Glen rubbed her now-sore neck. "Yeah. I'm honored. Let's get out of here, yeah?"

"Of course, of course. This way."

The sight of the distant Solarius brought a sigh of relief to Glen as she and the Hatter stepped out of the remains of the Red Queen's palace. The warmth of the Dream Realm's sun washed over her, dispelling the unnatural coldness of the crumbling ruin.

"Ah … much better," Glen said, rubbing her neck.

To her surprise, the Hatter let out a laugh. "I expected no less from you, Miss Sunshine. I must admit, however, that I'm curious; was the Queen able to give you the information you sought?"

Glen shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know. All I really got out of our little talk was that the ichor's source is probably somewhere nasty, and that fighting it directly might be a really bad idea."

"And is that to stop you from your pugilistic pursuits of this problem?"

"Phhb. Not likely." Glen thought back to her conversation for a few moments before asking, "Say, where did Alice fight the Doll-maker anyway?"

"Ah, you know about the train."

"The Wonderland line?"

"No, no, no … not by a long-shot." The Hatter shuddered and said, "This was a horrible thing, inspired in part by the Dormouse and in part by my former compatriots, the March Hare and the Dormouse. Hulking monstrosity of smoke and ichor, it tore through Wonderland, bringing ruin in its wake."

"Hmm. Any chance I could see the remains?"

The Hatter stopped dead in his tracks. "Look here, Miss Sunshine, you asked for knowledge about the ichor, and I've provided. More than provided; I've put my own self at risk."

"And I appreciate that," Glen said evenly, "But I need to know what about it gave the Doll-maker more power, and hopefully figure out from that where the ichor facing the Underground is hiding. Look, I get you're scared, but there's a whole multiverse at stake here. If you won't bring me there, at least tell me how to get there."

The Hatter looked skeptical. Before he could respond, however, a hideous laughter filled the air. A few moments later, a surge of something black rose from the depths of the maze. The laughter grew louder as the shape sprouted arms and what looked to be some kind of fire on its head.

"Is that … ichor?" The Hatter asked, but Glenda barely heard it, she was already running toward the sound. With her tech-boots, she was able to leap over hedges with only a few scratches; unfortunately, the dark figure was moving away from her at an incredible rate.

She was in mid-leap when suddenly she found herself crashing face-first onto a carpeted floor. She pushed herself up and stared around in confusion for a few moments before realizing she was back in Alice's study.

"Glen!" It was Alice, a horrified look on her face.

"I'm okay," Glen said, stumbling to her feet, "Just a little-"

"It's Ashi!"

Glen looked at Ashi only to find the woman still seated on the ground in exactly the same position. Her skin was pale, however, and from her expression, she wasn't at all enjoying her stay in the garden.

"C'mon, Ash," Glen said, lightly slapping her on the cheek. When that didn't work, Glen spoke louder. "Ash!"

Looking at Alice, Glen asked, "What happened?"

"I-I don't know. When I caught up with her, she was trying to tear off her strange clothes, but they kept growing back. I tried to calm her down, but she was in a complete state of panic."

"Did she say anything?" Glen asked.

"Yes," Alice replied, "she kept saying that she could feel him inside her … that he was coming, and she couldn't stop him."

"Him?" when Alice shook her head, Glen sighed and sat back in her usual chair.

"Right," she said, "I'm going back in."

"Are you sure that's wise?" Alice asked. "Glen, whatever was taking over her was powerful."

"All the more reason to find them both," Glen said, "You don't have to-"

She paused; Alice had already sat down and closed her eyes. Smiling, Glen said, "All right. Let's go get our friend back."


	14. Chapter 14 - Errand-goat

**Errand-goat**

Deep within the Chorus Mountains lies a great center of knowledge, a school of sorts that teaches those who make the perilous trek in whatever it is they wish to know. Some come seeking greater magical power while others come to learn the ways of technology, while still yet others research the secrets of existance. Whatever one seeks, the Chorus University promises answers.

Built into the mountains of stone and ice, the university is largely self-sufficient. Fields deep in the ground and warmed by magical sunlight provide crops, trees, and other plant life, ice-fishing was considered a normal hobby, and the University grounds were well-saturated with magical energy for those beings that require such things.

There was plenty for an aspiring student, whatever flavor of knowledge he, she, or it sought. Alchemy labs, machine shops, crafting studios for spells, wands, machines, and even artificial intelligence research, vast arenas built to train shapers, benders, and large-scale machines, and of course, a vast library filled with tomes on every subject one might imagine.

It was the library that attracted Asriel the most; he spent hours every day seated in a cushy armchair near the warm hearth (fire was out of the question in the library, but a massive glowing crystal set in the hearth put off just as much light and heat without worry of setting any ancient volumes alight), reading book after book. Fiction or non-fiction, Science or science fiction, horror or Horticulture, no subject was off-limits to him.

He knew the librarians thought he had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, but the truth was that sitting in a cushy chair by the fire reminded him of nights spent with his mother and Chara, watching the magical flames in the fireplace as Queen Toriel told them tale after tale. He felt safer in that chair than he'd felt anywhere in a very long time.

Shye, on the other hand …

The cat-girl's face popped into Asriel's view from above. "Hey, Azzie! Whatcha doin'?"

"Gah!" Asriel jerked back, causing the already unbalanced chair to fall backward. Shye deftly leapt onto the tabletop and peered down at her fallen friend.

"Whatchu doin' down there?" she asked, a grin on her face.

"I like it here," Asriel replied with a glare. Ignoring the disapproving looks of nearby library patrons, he pushed the chair back up and grabbed the book he'd been reading.

"What's that?" She asked, still on the table.

"Do you really care, or are you just bored?" Asriel asked.

Pouting, Shye said, "Oh, come on! Don't be like that. You've been spending all your time here lately, and I just thought you might want to, y'know, actually DO something. We could hit the casting range, or go check out some of the stuff they got goin' on over in the experimental magicks. Yesterday, there was this lady with wings on her head that made a bunch of chairs and couches into an invisible roller coaster that went all over the University! It was awesome!"

"That does sound cool," Asriel admitted, as he set the book on a trolley.

Shye hopped off the table and grabbed Asriel by the arm. "You can't just sit in the library all day again. C'mon! We're gonna find some fun!"

The two little monsters ran through the halls of the University, bumping past students and faculty as they made their way across the campus. Most were adults; Asriel had seen a few other children, but those young of appearance often carried more than their weight in years, a concept Shye had difficulty with but Asriel understood all too well.

They eventually made their way to the courtyard. While technically underground, an enchantment made the ceiling appear as the sky of a warm summer day. It wasn't just visual; Asriel could feel the warmth of the illusionary sun on his face as he and Shye ran laughing over the grass-covered courtyard. There were many students there, mostly in groups of two to four, many either studying or playing Snapclaw, a game where two mages pit illusionary dragons against each other. Shye and Asriel dashed under dozens of the dueling pigeon-sized illusions as they made their way forward toward the large misshapen building that housed the Experimental Magic Labs and the University Medical facilities (a wise placement conceived of by the original University builders).

Their race was cut short by a large, familiar figure sitting beside the large fountain in the center of the courtyard. Scooping the two off the ground, Golemite looked at her two friends with a grin and said, "And where do ya think yer goin, runnin' like that?"

"Experimental Magicks," Shye said.

"Tell me dis ain't about dose bouncin' boots you was askin' about yesterday."

"Ricochet Boots," Shye said instantly, only to blush and said, "and I don't know. We were just gonna go look around."

Golemite crossed her stone arms. "Uh-huh. Where's Mina?"

Shye instantly became very nervous. "Uh, I dunno. Around. What's it matter? She does her thing, I do my thing."

Golemite narrowed her glowing eyes at the cat-girl before looking to Asriel with a smile. "Well, I'm glad ta see ya out of dat musty old library. Let's meet up later and grab some grub, yeah?"

Leaning closer to Asriel, Golemite whispered, "And keep an eye on Shye, yeah?"

"Can do," Asriel said, giving his friend a mock salute.

"Can you believe she still doesn't know she's a she?" Shye said with a giggle.

Asriel opened his mouth to respond, only for Shye to drag him forward once again.

The Experimental Magic Labs (and University Medical) was probably the most notable building on campus, in part from its appearance. Oh, it looked like an ordinary brick-and-mortar college building, but beyond that, nothing about the building remained constant. Sometimes it was three stories tall; sometimes it was ten. Sometimes it was only one. Sometimes the building was so large that there was only a few feet between the outlying doors and their neighboring buildings, and sometimes the building is so small, it looks like little more than a shack. The color changed all the time, sometimes as quick as a blink, though it seemed to favor a shade of teal.

Regardless of how the outside appeared, the inside was always the same. The medical facilities are typical of their kind; white tile and walls, inoffensive artwork, a lingering smell of soup. Past the medical facilities, however, the corridors turn into a maze-like network of chaos. Remnants of old spells left the once normal carpeting a mismatch of styles, thickness, color … those patches that weren't overgrown with plant life, covered with blue sand, or partially converted into swamps. The elevator occasionally brings people to other buildings on campus, the stairwell often leads those who use it up and down several flights before returning them to where they started. Teleportation is the only reliable way around … unless one knows the secrets.

Shye knew the secrets. She tapped on the stairwell door three times, after which the door opened, revealing a simple hallway. Instead of heading to the door on the other side, however, she simply closed the door they'd entered, waited a moment, then opened it again. A sign posted by the stairwell door now indicated they were on the fifth floor, though a regular traveler of the building would know that from the fish swimming through the air as though it were water.

Shye was moving slower now, making an obvious effort to make as little noise as possible. Asriel tried to follow suit, but he never was much of a sneaker; Chara and he often tried to sneak cookies from the kitchen, but Chara was the only one who ever pulled it off. Still, they passage drew no undue attention.

Eventually, Shye stopped in front of a door marked only with a metal five that hung crooked from its single remaining screw. She glanced at Asriel, a finger pressed to her lips to keep him from speaking, before turning back to the door, extending a single claw, and tapping it against the door-handle with a barely audible 'ting'.

Before Asriel could even open his mouth to ask what was going on, a soft click sounded from the lock. Grinning, Shye turned the handle freely and opened the door. Mina quickly slipped out of the doorway and wove around Shye's ankles until picked up.

"Good job, Mina," Shye cooed, rubbing the three-eyed cat creature's fur. Mina purred loudly at the praise before climbing onto Shye's shoulder. Shye entered the room, Asriel following while still wondering how Mina reached the lock.

The room looked to be used for storage of, quite frankly, a bunch of junk: among the more notable objects were an old gramophone player, a bucket filled with old silverware, an enormous stuffed sloth, and a skeleton seated in a reclining position in a dusty velvet chair. Asriel poked the skeleton, only to find it was plastic.

"Uh, what are we looking for?" Asriel whispered.

"Give me a sec … and don't touch anything," Shye said, rummaging through an old cabinet. "Most of the stuff here is enchanted in some way."

"No kidding," said Asriel, staring at a deck of cards that was shuffling itself.

Shye rummaged around a few more minutes before letting out a quiet, "Aha!"

Asriel turned to see her holding up a pair of old sneakers. They looked to have had more than a few owners in their time, and seemed normal save for a few barely visible runes lining the sides of the rubberized soles.

"Uh, nice," Asriel said uncertainly.

"Here!" Shye shoved the shoes against his chest before retrieving another pair. "Put 'em on!"

Mystified, Asriel did so. They were a little big, but comfortable enough, he supposed.

"All right," Shye said, wearing her other pair. "let's go!"

She led him out of the room. He expected them to leave the building, and was surprised when they ended up on the roof. He didn't know how high the building was at that moment, but one look over the side told him it was higher than he was comfortable with. Mina hopped from Shye's shoulder as the cat girl stepped onto the roof's edge.

"Tag!" she said, slapping Asriel on the arm. "You're it!"

Before Asriel could respond, Mina leapt off the side of the building.

"Mina!" Asriel shouted, rushing to the edge only to stumble back as Shye suddenly rose back into view.

"C'mon!" She said before falling down again. Asriel watched as she hit the ground to seemingly no effect, only to leap away, a trail of light following her feet as she shot across the main courtyard.

He had no intention of leaping over the building in any footwear, but unbeknownst to him, Mina had come to stand right behind him. As he stepped back, his foot came down on her tail, prompting her to let out a shrill cry that made him stumble forward. He made a grab for the edge, but it was too late.

A strange feeling came over him in mid-air, spinning him so that his feet were pointed to the ground. He landed beside a startled bear, but there was no impact; the shoes seemed to absorb it all, leaving him with a strange tingling feeling all over.

Seeing Shye in the distance, now leaping up the side of a building, he moved to follow her. The moment his foot hit the ground, the tingling feeling intensified as he hurtled forward so fast that everything was a blur. His body again spun, this time twisting so that he hit the side of the building ahead of him with is feet. Again, the shoes absorbed all the impact, and the tingling feeling returned, yet he didn't fall from the side of the wall.

Realization hit him. He touched a foot on the ground and instantly shot upward, up the side of the building. Shye was waiting for him on the roof, the wide grin still on her face. She shot away before Asriel could say anything, prompting him to follow. The two raced across the campus, leaping from roof to roof. A single touch of a shoe was enough to hurl them in the opposite direction, and the campus was large enough to give them plenty of room to romp about.

The sense of speed was intoxicating, and soon Asriel found himself not chasing Shye but racing her. There were more than a few shouts from startled passersby, but Asriel found himself not caring … at least, until he and Shye shot through the narrow space between the canopy and the rail of a covered walkway leading to the Large spire in the center of the campus when both of them froze abruptly in mid-jump. They hung there from a floating pair of translucent skeletal hands,confused until they slowly spun to face Headmaster Gaster.

"Ah, Asriel … Shye." He said as calmly as he would if simply running into them in a hallway. "What a nice surprise. I was hoping to have a word with you."

"I can explain," Shye said, "It was Azzie's idea to-"

"What? I don't even-" Asriel suddenly found his lips frozen mid-speech. Gaster gestured at them, blue energy flowing from his fingers and pulling them behind him as he walked back into the spire.

Headmaster Gaster's Office was a large round room at the very top of the spire. It was an elegant room, with finely made furniture and lots of expensive looking tools he presumably used for his own research. At a mere gesture, he made two chairs pull up behind the floating forms of Asriel and Shye. The blue glow around them faded, leaving them to fall into the chairs as the Headmaster sat down at his desk.

"Look, I'm sorry if I-"

"I didn't bring you here to talk about footwear," he said, not unkindly. "I'm afraid that your stay may be a little longer than I suspected. The other parties I spoke of have become … sidetracked.

Asriel and Shye exchanged glances that made it clear neither of them was particularly bothered by this news. Still, a sense of duty prompted Asriel to ask, "Is Nowhere still okay? I mean, with the ichor from the Floating Fields so close?"

"Nowhere is fine," Gaster promised. "I contacted Mayor Mayor this morning, and he assured me that the haven't found the ichor within the bounds of the city."

As Asriel breathed a sigh of relief, Shye asked, "Who are we waitin' for?"

"I … am not entirely sure, to be honest," Gaster confessed. "I know they are tied to the matter at hand, but why? I don't know. Do not worry; their seekers are quite enthusiastic."

"And the last piece of the Everstar?" Asriel asked, a hand clutching at his chest. "I can feel more every day, somewhere south of here."

"I understand your desire to reunite the shards, Prince Asriel, but believe me when I say that traveling the mountains, even with your current footwear, would be a fool's journey. There's a reason what lays beyond is unknown; even magic hasn't helped people pass the Chorus Mountain range."

Before anyone could say anything more, the doors to the room shot open, revealing a mole-man complete with mining hat and pick.

"Headmaster! He said, stumbling forward. "We gotta situation! We were diggin' tunnel eighty-seven, and you ain't gonna believe what' we found!"

Gaster held up a hand to stay his words. Smiling at Asriel and Shye, he said, "Well, that was all I needed to relay to you. By all means, continue your play."

"Er, right," Shye said, slipping out of the chair. "C'mon, Asriel."

"What? But …" Asriel stopped talking, both from the look Shye gave him and from the sight of Mina sitting under Gaster's desk.

They hurried out of the room and moved a few floors down before Shye stopped and seemed to wait.

"Shye?" Asriel asked, only for her to shush him.

It was a good ten minutes before she said, "Oh, we gotta check this out!"

"Check what …" Asriel stopped as Shye took off running. Sighing, he hurried after her. The boots needed the force of impact to work, so they had to go on foot until they were again outside the spire. From there, Shye made a beeline to the courtyard. It was only when they were under the shade of the cluster of trees near the entrance that she finally came to a halt.

"You bugged Mina, didn't you?" Asriel asked.

She snorted. "Of course not. I made her my familiar. It's easy enough to set up, and now I can talk to her, see through her eyes, and even hear through her ears … and her ears just heard something really cool. You wanna hear?"

Asriel was torn, but curiosity won out over his respect of Headmaster Gaster's privacy. "All right; what is it?"

"That mole guy was the leader of a team that looks for ways to expand the campus. They dig into the mountains for materials and space, but apparently their furthest team found some kinda huge cavern on the other side. Mole-guy didn't give any details, so I figured we could go take a look, yeah?"

"What, just us?" Asriel asked, "Shouldn't we get Golemite?"

"Ah, she's gone all security guard. She'll report us so we stay nice and safe and bored. Well, if she wants to stay here, that's her business, but this is our adventure!" Shye said, her hand on Asriel's arm. "Let's check this one out ourselves!"

"But what if it's dangerous?" Asriel persisted.

Shye opened her pack and pulled out one of Asriel's crystal swords. He stared at it for a moment before glaring at her. "You've been in my room?"

"I was looking for something," She explained, waving this off as though it were unimportant. "Besides, we both got magic. What's the worst that could happen?"

"We could get lost, captured, killed-"

"Well, yeah, if you put it like that, anything sounds bad. There could be lots a cool stuff there too, like … like giant floating mushrooms and six-legged mice."

Asriel raised an eyebrow at her. "You're weird."

"All right, I guess I don't have your imagination, but seriously, Azzie: anything could be over there. Besides, I'm bored of this place; I left home to see things, not just get stuck at some big school waiting for who-knows-who. We've been here three months already! Aren't you just a teensy bit bored?"

"Well," Asriel admitted, "Maybe just a little, but-"

"See?" She said, bopping him on the shoulder, "Meet me in front of the cafeteria after supper, and we'll head out, all right? All right."

"All right … no, wait a-" Asriel stopped talking; Shye was already out of ear-shot.

She was right; as comforting as his time had been at the University, there was an ever-growing urgency inside him about the ichor. Whatever was causing it was out there somewhere, and he was just sitting here, reading. Then there was the Everstar; he'd told Gaster the truth when he said he could feel the shards pulling him toward the south. Perhaps the cavern held a clue … or perhaps it was just another cave beneath the Chorus Mountains, home to nothing more but more rocks.

"Still," he reasoned to himself, perking up considerably as he headed toward the dormitory where he'd been staying. "At least we'll be doing something … and maybe she's right. Maybe there will be something cool hidden there."


	15. Chapter 15 - Daddy Issues

**Daddy Issues**

Glen sighed and put her hands on her hips. "Well, it's a break."

She, Alice, and the Mad Hatter stood at the edge of the Tulgey Wood, having followed the trail of destruction in Ashi's wake. In truth, many more stood there as well, perched on the branches of trees and peering from behind the underbrush. The creatures that lived in the Tulgey Wood were curious … cautious, but definitely curious, and there was certainly something to be curious about.

At the edge of the Tulgey Wood, right where the green of the wood began to merge with the white of the snowy lands beyond, just about eye-level was a massive set of cracks. It looked exactly like someone had smashed a mirror and somehow transferred the cracks to the very air itself. Bits of some shimmering substance flaked away from the crack, gently floating to the ground below only to vanish moments later.

"I've never seen anything like this in Wonderland," Alice said, shaking her head.

"Nor me," The Hatter said, wringing his hands nervously. "Can't say I like the look of it."

Glen circled around the break. "Don't worry; you aren't missing anything. You get breaks between areas of the Dream Realm that are normally kept apart."

Seeing their confused looks, Glen thought a moment and said, "Sleepers like Miss Alice exert a lot of influence on the Dream Realm, creating their own realms within the Dream Realm. Think of them like bubbles, separated from the Realm proper, yet still a part of it. Breaks happen when something forces its way in or out of isolated realms like this.

Glen squinted through the very center of the cracks, and caught a glimpse of waving grain. Her grin widened. "I think I know where it leads. C'mon."

Seeing her friends' hesitation, Glen said, "Don't worry; it's perfectly safe. Alice's spent so much time in the Dream Realm, I sincerely doubt she'll have to worry about turning into a doll at this point."

Alice and the Hatter hesitantly followed Glen. Once they were standing near her, Glen grabbed the edges of the opening and threw it open. Instantly, the opening fell over them, taking away the trees of the Tulgey Wood and leaving them standing in a field of yellow grain.

Both the Hatter and Alice let out gasps, causing Glen to turn. Seeing alarm in her friend's faces, she started to ask what was wrong when it occurred to her; the moment she entered the Dream Realm proper, her body glowed as though it were made of the same light as the glowing orb of the Solarius, the Dream Realm's sun, on the distant horizon.

"Sorry," she said, willing her form to return to its normal appearance. "It's been a while."

"My goodness, madam," The Hatter said, still eyeing her warily. "And here I thought you Miss Sunshine in name only."

Glen chuckled as she rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah, it's a long story. Right now, we need to find which way Ashi went."

Almost as though on queue, a burst of darkness shot into the distant sky, accompanied by one of the creepiest laughs Glen had ever heard.

"And off we go!" Glen said before leaping into the air. Light burst from her back, propelling her through the air and over the field of grain.

As she continued flying toward the pillar of darkness, she noticed the lanky form of the Hatter below her. Alice rode on his shoulder as he dashed through the wheat behind Glen, his long legs propelling him forward almost fast enough to catch up with Glen.

Flying through the Twilight felt wonderful; her home and wife may still have been far away, but something about the Dream Realm Proper left her feeling revitalized. This was her home in a way, no matter what time she occupied, and to her it felt as though the Realm itself agreed.

The sight of buildings and trees poking through the fields of grain made Glen slow down. She passed over smaller fields bearing vegetable patches and a fairly large grove of fruit-bearing trees before reaching the outskirts of a town. By then, she wasn't the only one in the air, harpies with wings as black as ink were taking wing as the black pillar tore through the city like a tornado.

Glen dodged her way through the cloud of crows before slamming into the side of the black pillar. Tendrils of light shot from her body, wrapping around the dark pillar as Glen sought the body of her friend. The pillar faded at the merest touch of light, soon vanishing into the air like smoke and leaving the form of Ashi kneeling on the ground. Glen touched down in front of her as Ashi breathed heavily, tears in her eyes.

"Ashi!" This came not from Glen, but Alice. The Hatter knelt down so she could again walk on solid ground. Alice approached Ashi, only for Ashi herself to shout, "Stay away!"

"It's okay," Glen coaxed, "Whatever's wrong, we can help."

"You can't help," Ashi said, shaking her head. "Don't you get it? He's part of me! When you brought me back, you gave him a way to return!"

"Him?" Glen asked, confused, "Him who? Ashi, what the hell are you-"

Ashi let out a scream as black energy surged around her, knocking Alice, Glen, and the Hatter back. The dark pillar rose as laughter again filled the air, sending winds rushing about the village as the remaining residents tried to take shelter.

Then, without warning, the pillar bent in half, as though stopping over. Glen looked up to see one of the more frightnening faces she'd seen in her considerable lifetime. Flames rose over large eyes with small, dark pupils over a face of ghastly green, made all the worse by a mouth filled with long curved teeth. Another growth of flames sprouted from the creature's jaw, resembling a beard of sorts.

"Well, well, well," Boomed the monstrosity's voice. "What have we here? Who dares to stand against the reborn might of the great Aku, shape-shifting master of darkness?"

"Cyber-cripes," Glen murmured staring up at the creature. "You're Aku?"

"Indeed! You are impressed no doubt at the sheer power of-"

"You look a lot goofier than I imagined."

"Glenda!" Alice hissed, alerting Glen to the fact she'd spoken her last thought aloud. Indeed, the once-grinning face of Aku was slowly turning into an angry glare.

"Sorry," Glen said, "It's just … the flaming eyebrows and beard are a bit much."

"SILENCE!" Red beams shot from Aku's eyes. Glen managed to dodge the blast, and was promptly showered with the popped grain ignited by the blast. "I will not be mocked by you, little woman! My power was enough to conquer this entire wor-"

A glowing ball collided with the side of Aku's head. It did no visible damage, but the sheer affront of someone attacking him during his monologue seemed to stall the dark being. Alice hefted another croquet ball into the air and sent it flying at Aku's head with a swing of her preserved flamingo mallet. The speed of the glowing projectile was impressive, and likely would have caused some damage on a normal opponent. Aku, on the other hand, dodged the shot before reaching a massive black hand toward Alice. This gave Glenda enough time to summon Headache and fire both energy grapples at Aku. The energy beams wrapped around his torso, tying his arms to his sides … for about three seconds. Aku's form shifted, slipping out of the grapples and grabbing them. Before Glen could react, Aku held her in the air so close to his face that she could feel the heat of his fiery eyebrows.

"Do you mind?" He said, eyes narrow. "I am TALKING!"

"Yeah? Well, I'm not." Glen swung from the grapples toward Aku. The activation of her fusion cutters instantly deactivated the grapple beams, freeing her to cut a wide swatch through the center of Aku.

He let out a screech before spiraling away from the reach of the fusion cutters. Glen felt a touch of triumph until she noticed the tears she'd inflicted sealing within moments as Aku laughed once again.

"Do you see, small thing?" Aku said, grinning down at her. "Your weapons cannot hurt me. They cannot restrain me. Only the sword of the samurai could strike me down, and he has been dust and bones for centuries. I am now unstoppable."

"So you think," Glen countered. "They thought you were dead too, yet here you are, large as life and way more ugly."

Aku laughed, though Glen wasn't sure whether it was at the suggestion or the insult. "It is true, the Samurai struck me down … but is it not true that something of the parent survives in their child?"

"Their child?" Alice asked, "You can't mean Ashi."

"Ah, but I do. She is my daughter," Aku said. "When she helped the Samurai strike me down in her past, she consigned herself to oblivion. When she was brought back into this world, she brought part of me back with her."

"Brought back? What are you-" Glen stopped, the memory of the Null coming back. "Ashi killed you in her past, preventing her own birth."

Aku's evil laugh was her answer. The thought gave her a shudder; it wasn't a problem for Dreamers; separated in their own timeline, their existence was assured no matter the fate of their previous selves and families. Ashi, on the other hand, had been erased from existence. Glen had often wondered what happened to those removed from the current of time due to time-travelling shenanigans, but even the worst pit in the Burning Hells seemed preferable to the Null.

Still, she knew now just what Aku really was, and more importantly, how to deal with him.

"There's a problem with your plan," Glen said, clenching Headache's metal fist.

"And what would that be, little woman?" Aku said, moving his face toward her without a hint of fear.

"This isn't the mainstream." Glen gasped as the light of the Solarius filled her, consuming her body, her clothes, her gear, and leaving her nothing but a shining form of light. Aku recoiled with a cry of surprise as she rose in the air, wisps of light already moving toward him.

"What are you?" He cried, trying to keep distance between them.

"The Light of Dreams," Glen said, light surging around her. "Now begone, shadow-thing."

Light burst from Glen and consumed the form of Aku. Whatever his strengths in the mainstream, he couldn't resist as the light of the Dream Realm tore through him, disintegrating the inky-blackness of his body. He changed shape into a bird-like thing in an attempt to escape the glowing surge of energy, but the Hatter was ready for him; the translucent mass of Glen's Defiance, the Godcrusher, had appeared in his hands moments earlier, confusing him for only a moment. His long legs propelled him into the air, where he slammed Godcrusher into what was left of Aku. The mallet struck Aku as though he were made of glass, shattering him into nothingness.

There were cries of triumph and applause from the crows watching the battle as the light faded from Glen moments later. She slowly floated back to the ground and let out a deep breath, feeling exhausted from the invocation. Alice and the Hatter quickly caught her as she stumbled.

"Miss Sunshine indeed," he said, chuckling as he handed her back Godcrusher. "Quite the impressive feat."

"Yeah," Glen said, "Mind you, if I tried that in the mainstream, I'd have to go without my powers for at least a month."

"And of course the word-play posturing was of the utmost necessity to your victory," The Hatter said with a grin.

"Hey, he started it. Now come on; if I'm right, Ashi should be … aha!"

Ashi stumbled through a cluster of wheat, looking about as exhausted as Glen felt. She staggered forward a few steps before falling to the ground. The Hatter and Alice hurried to her side, inadvertently leaving Glen behind in the process. Sighing, Glen forced her limbs to carry her forward, using the glowing form of Godcrusher as a sort of walking stick until she too was near Ashi. The black catsuit still covered most of her body, as inky black as Aku's skin.

"She's fainted," Alice said, looking sympathetically at her fallen friend. "Poor dear …"

"That braggart must've been feeding off her energy," The Hatter observed.

Glen nodded. "That's exactly what he was doing."

The Hatter and Alice looked to Glen, both concerned. Glen shook her head, "Don't worry; he won't come back as long as we get Ashi back to the mainstream … and after I have a little word with her."

"But what exactly was that creature?" Alice asked, "Have you seen him before?"

"Not him per se, but creatures like him. Schrades; they're like echoes of life, without a form of their own unless they latch on to someone like a parasite." In truth, Glen knew Aku wasn't a schrade, but she was too tired to explain the nuances of the Dream Realm at that particular moment in time. Besides, the truth was close enough.

"Nasty things, schrades," called out a friendly voice. Glen turned to see a gangley man in faded overalls and an oft-patched straw hat over a mess of blonde hair. His pale skin bore several scarlet markings reminiscent of tribal tattoos, though Glen recognized them as the markings of one of the largest nocturi tribes of the Dream Realm. He walked at the head of a line of wagons filled with ripe vegetables. The wagons continued on as he stopped and offered his hand to Glen.

A smile came to Glen's face as she shook his hand. "Wander! By the Creator, aren't you a sight for sore eyes!"

The man smiled and tipped his hat at Glen. "It's definitely been a while. I see you brought friends this time."

"Ah, right. Wander, this is Alice Liddell and … er, the Mad Hatter. Alice, Hatter, this is Wander, the Scarecrow King."

Sighing, Wander said, "No one calls me that anymore. It's just Wander, and good riddance."

Chuckling, Glen said, "Wander was the first who learned to channel the light of the Solarius. Saved the Dream Realm from a bigger nuisance than Aku."

"Not alone," Wander said.

Glen nodded. "Speaking of, where is Samara?"

"She took the kids to visit her parents over in Evenquinox," Wander gestured to the fields, adding, "I wanted to tag along, but had to stay and oversee the harvest. Woulda helped out with that thing, but I was all the way in the southern field. 'course, now I got some rebuilding to do."

"Ah, yeah," Glen said, rubbing the back of her head. "Sorry about that. I'll make sure no one else has to suffer through Aku's dramatic monologues from now on. There's something else, though; Miss Alice here is the figurehead of the Realm of Wonderland. The break's near your fields, so I was hoping-"

"Ah, I gotcha. Say no more." Wander turned to Alice, pulling off his hat and holding it to his chest as he said, "Well, Miss, we can seal up the break if you want, but we can also open it up permanently, attaching your Wonderland to the borders of the Wanderlands."

"The Wanderlands?" Alice said, a smile spreading across her face.

"Seems like a made-match, yeah?" Glen said with a grin.

"Well … Wonderland is still recovering from … an incident …"

"All the more reason to link up to the rest of the realm," Wander said. "We can help the recovery. If nothin' else, it's always easier to fix things up when you've got more friends. If you got some time, we can talk about it."

"Over tea?" The Hatter asked hopefully.

Alice giggled as Wander considered this a moment before saying, "Er, yeah. Sure. Glen?"

"Nah, I gotta get Ashi back before she wakes up." Glen said, hoisting up the unconscious warrioress. "You kids have fun, though."

Glen opened her eyes to find herself once again back in Alice's study, staring at the sleeping form of Alice. Stifling a yawn, she rose from her chair and walked over to the still-slumbering Ashi. The warrioress was in a dreamless sleep now, and would be for a few hours. Nodding, Alice rose only to hear the slightly off-tune jangle of the doorbell. Glen left her friends slumbering in the study and made her way to the front door. The slightly worried looks on the orphans she passed did not escape her.

She opened the door two see three men in suits, two big and burly and the third short and wearing a derby cap that was clearly too small for his head.

"Sorry 'bout this, miss," The little guy said, "But the boss said no to your loan extension. We're gonna need the dosh now."

Something about the man's face and attitude seemed eerily familiar. Glen's eyes narrowed as she remembered other small men surrounded by brutes throughout history. "Hang on, you're a Sudwit, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I'm Arthur Sudwit. You know my family then?" the little man asked, seemingly pleasantly surprised by the question.

"You've made an impression, yes." Glen said, "So how much we talking about here?"

"Well, with interest … four hundred pounds."

"Uh-huh. And the fact that this building provides a civic surface, homes for the orphans and all that … doesn't matter, right?"

"Er, right," Arthur said. Something in his tiny henchman brain was likely registering that the smile on Glen's face wasn't as friendly as it first appeared. The beauty of dealing with so many Sudwits during her life, Glen thought to herself as the man began to sweat, is that their thought processes were as plain as day.

"And I suppose you're here to blow up the place," she said casually.

"Are you jokin'?" Arthur said, "We'd need a ton of explosive to take a place like this down. Wouldn't be cost effective. Nah, we're just gonna burn it down."

"Unless we've got the money, I suppose," Glen said tapping her lip thoughtfully. She could tell this was going to require some 'diplomacy'. "Tell you what; why don't you fellas come in, and I'll see if we can't sort this out nice and easy, yeah?"

It was fun seeing Sudwit's face contort as he fought between his genetic disposition to be a good henchman, his natural greed, and the tiny voice of survival that was trying to ensure his survival so that the Sudwit name would be passed on. The henchman won out, as Glen knew it would. She stepped aside and allowed them inside before closing the door behind them and quietly locking it.


End file.
